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FE  :   SO  1914 


THE    COMMONWEALTH    OF    MASSACHUSETTS 
BOARD  OF  EDUCATION 

THE  NEEDS  AND  POSSIBILITIES  OF 
PART-TIME  EDUCATION 


A  Special  Report  submitted  to  the  Legislature 
January,   1913 


(inumuniwcaltli  of 
BOARD  OF   EDUCATION. 


A  SPECIAL  REPORT 


NEEDS  AND  POSSIBILITIES  or 
PART-TIME  EDUCATION, 


JANUARY,    1913. 


BOSTON: 

WRIGHT  &  POTTER  PRINTING  CO.,  STATE  PRINTERS, 

18  POST  OFFICE  SQUARE. 

1913. 


of  Jtta0sacl)ustft0. 


REPORT  ON  PART-TIME  EDUCATION. 


To  the  Honorable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives. 

In  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  chapter  64,  Resolves  of 
1911,  relative  to  the  need  and  practicability  of  part-time  school- 
ing, vocational  or  otherwise,  for  working  children,  the  Board 
of  Education  herewith  submits  the  results  of  the  investigation, 
together  with  its  recommendations. 

The  investigation  was  made  and  the  report  prepared  under 
the  direction  of  the  Board  by  Commissioner  of  Education, 
David  Snedden,  assisted  by  Special  Agent  Michael  W.  Murray. 
The  Board  adopts  the  report  and  endorses  the  recommenda- 
tions. 

FREDERICK  P.   FISH,   Chairman, 
SARAH  LOUISE  ARNOLD, 
ELLA  LYMAN  CABOT, 
SIMEON  B.  CHASE, 
LEVI  L.  CONANT, 
THOMAS  B.  FITZPATRICK, 
FREDERICK  W.  HAMILTON, 
PAUL  HANUS, 
CLINTON  Q.  RICHMOND, 

Members  of  the  Board. 
JAN.  1,  1913. 


284390 


CONTENTS  OF  REPORT. 


PART  tf.  —  GENERAL  REPORT. 

I.     Authorization, 7 

II.     Definition  of  Part-time  Schooling, 8 

III.  Need  of  Part-time  Schooling, 9 

IV.  Practicability  of  Establishing  a  System  of  Apprentice- 

ship,       14 

Y.     Practicability  of  Part-time  Schooling,    ....  14 
VI.     Existing  Means  which  might  be  made  to  furnish  Voca- 
tional Training, 18 

VII.     Suggested  Programs, 19 

VIII.     Conclusions, 19 

IX.     Recommendations, 21 

X.     Recommended  Legislation, 22 

PART  II.  —  APPENDIXES. 

A.  Aims  and  Scope  of  the  Investigation,   ....  25-36 

B.  Existing  Means  for  furnishing  General  and  Vocational 

Education  in  the  Commonwealth,        ....  37-43 

C.  Previous  Education  and  Present  Industrial  Status  of 

Selected  Groups  of  Workers, 44-83 

D.  Apprenticeship, 84-98 

E.  Practicability  of  Part-time  Schooling,    ....  99-123 

F.  Suggested  Programs, 124-146 

G.  Part-time  Education  in  Commercial  Establishments,      .  147-159 


PART  I. 

GENERAL    REPORT. 


I.     AUTHORIZATION. 

The  following  is  the  text  of  the  resolve  passed  by  the  Legis- 
lature :  — 

RESOLVES  OF  1911,  CHAPTER  64. 

Resolved,  That  the  board  of  education  is  hereby  authorized  and 
directed  to  investigate  the  need  and  practicability  of  part-time  school- 
ing, vocational  and  otherwise,  for  working  children,  and  also  the  estab- 
lishment of  an  apprenticeship  system,  especially  for  children  between 
the  ages  of  fourteen  and  seventeen  years.  The  board  shall  investigate 
and  report  as  to  the  means  now  existing  which  might  be  used  to  furnish 
vocational  training,  and  is  authorized  to  employ  such  agents  as  may  be 
necessary  to  collect  pertinent  information  from  employers  and  others. 
The  board  shall  report  the  result  of  its  investigations  with  its  recom- 
mendations, in  print,  to  the  general  court  not  later  than  the  second 
Wednesday  in  January,  nineteen  hundred  and  thirteen.  For  the  pur- 
poses of  this  resolve,  there  shall  be  allowed  and  paid  out  of  the  treasury 
of  the  commonwealth  a  sum  not  exceeding  six  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars. 

In  compliance  to  this  resolve,  the  Board  of  Education  directed 
the  Commissioner  of  Education  to  make  the  necessary  investi- 
gations and  engage  expert  assistance.  Mr.  Michael  W.  Murray, 
director  of  vocational  education  for  the  city  of  Newton,  was 
engaged  as  chief  special  agent  to  assist  the  commissioner  in 
directing  the  study  and  preparing  the  report. 

Special  acknowledgment  is  here  made  of  the  assistance  of  the 
following:  Mr.  Charles  A.  Prosser,  secretary  of  the  National 
Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Industrial  Education ;  Dr.  Susan 
M.  Kingsbury,  director,  Research  Department,  Women's  Educa- 
tional and  Industrial  Union;  Mrs.  John  T.  Prince,  director, 
School  of  Salesmanship,  Women's  Educational  and  Industrial 
Union,  who  is  responsible  for  Appendix  G;  Mr.  Wm.  H.  Doo- 


ley,  director,  Lowell  Industrial  School ;  Mr..  Charles  Mills,  gen- 
eral superintendent,  Saco-Petee  Machine  Company;  Miss  Ruth 
Evans  and  Miss  Abigail  D.  Steere,  fellows  of  the  Research 
Department  of  the  Woman's  Educational  and  Industrial  Union. 
In  making  this  report  the  problem  has  been  considered  under 
the  four  following  heads,  suggested  by  the  resolve :  — 

A.  —  Is  there  a  need  of  part-time  schooling,  vocational  or 
otherwise,  for  working  children? 

B.  —  Is  there  a  need  of  an  apprenticeship  system,  and  can 
such  a  system  be  established? 

C.  —  Is  a  program  of  part-time  schooling,  vocational  or  other- 
wise, practicable? 

D.  —  What  means  now  exist  which  might  be  made  to  fur- 
nish vocational  training? 

II.     DEFINITION  OF  PART-TIME  SCHOOLING. 

Large  numbers  of  young  persons  must  enter  upon  productive 
employment  before  they  have  received  as  complete  a  liberal 
and  vocational  education  as  the  best  interests  of  the  individual 
and  of  society  require. 

A  system  of  part-time  schooling  aims  to  give  to  persons  al- 
ready employed  in  productive  work  the  opportunity  to  devote 
a  portion  of  their  working  time  to  attending  school.  The 
problem  of  part-time  schooling  or  part-time  education  is,  then, 
so  to  organize  schools  on  the  one  hand  and  industries  on  the 
other  that  the  young  worker,  while  receiving  due  compensation 
for  service  rendered,  may  be  enabled  to  distribute  his  time 
between  a  school  and  his  productive  employment  in  such  a  way 
as  to  make  possible  an  effective  education. 

The  portion  of  the  training  given  in  school  should  aim  (a) 
to  utilize  the  practical  experience  of  the  learner  in  conjunction 
with  special  studies,  to  the  specific  end  of  promoting  vocational 
efficiency;  and  (6)  by  appropriate  studies  of  a  liberal  nature 
to  promote  general  culture  and  civic  efficiency. 

Under  the  system  of  apprenticeship  once  prevailing,  modi- 
fied forms  of  part-time  education  were  often  found.  Appren- 
tices, while  performing  regular  tasks  in  the  workshop,  counting- 
room  or  on  the  farm,  were  required  to  give  stated  amounts 


of  time  each  day  to  attendance  on  classes  for  systematic  study. 
In  Germany  and  other  countries  this  practice  developed  into 
organized  forms  of  continuation  schools,  upon  which  attendance 
has  now  in  most  places  been  made  compulsory  to  the  extent  of 
from  six  to  twelve  hours  per  week,  and  up  to  the  ages  of  sixteen, 
seventeen  or  even  eighteen  years.  In  the  earlier  development 
of  public  education  in  the  United  States  it  was  often  necessary 
for  pupils  to  work  at  home  a  portion  of  the  year,  thus  leaving 
but  a  limited  portion  of  time  for  attendance  at  school.  This 
may  be  regarded  as  an  unorganized  and  primitive  form  of  part- 
time  education. 

Part-time  education  assumes  in  practice  many  forms  as  re- 
spects the  distribution  of  the  time  of  the  learner.  In  some 
instances  a  portion  of  each  day  may  be  given  to  school  at- 
tendance; in  others,  one  or  more  half -days  per  week.  Other 
plans  of  part-time  education  provide  for  alternate  weeks  in  shop 
and  school,  while  in  a  few. cases  the  periods  of  alternation  may 
be  longer.  In  the  minor  engineering  callings  in  England  pe- 
riods of  alternation  between  practical  work  and  school  attend- 
ance range  from  three  months  to  one  year.  In  one  type  of 
German  technical  school,  school  attendance  follows  at  least  two 
years  of  practical  work  under  apprenticeship.  Various  pro- 
grams of  part-time  education  possible  under  conditions  in 
Massachusetts  are  discussed  in  Appendix  F. 

III.  THE  NEED  OF  PART-TIME  SCHOOLING. 
It  is  estimated  that  there  were  in  1910  74,700  children  in 
Massachusetts  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  seventeen  who 
were  not  in  school.  It  is  estimated  that  40,000  of  those  who 
were  not  in  school  were  regularly  employed.  Of  the  40,000 
young  people  between  fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age  who 
were  reported  as  at  work,  the  textile  industry  employed  17,306 
or  43  per  cent.  Boot  and  shoe  factories  took  the  second  largest 
number,  5,003,  while  in  the  metal  trades  were  found  2,042. 
The  confectionery  industry  employed  904,  and  printing  and 
publishing  768.1  Of  the  total  number  of  these  young  workers  it 
appears  that  71  per  cent,  began  work  at  or  about  fourteen  years 

1  Complete  census  returns  for  1909  are  not  given  on  printing  and  publishing. 


10 

of  age.  Taking  the  industries  separately,  69  per  cent,  of  the 
candy  workers  began  work  not  later  than  fourteen.  Of  the 
young  shoe  workers,  56  per  cent,  started  work  at  fourteen, 
while  79  per  cent,  of  the  textile  group  began  at  the  same  age. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  40,000  who  are  at  work  lose 
considerable  time  through  shifting.  For  example,  in  the 
study  of  textile  workers  in  Fall  Eiver  and  New  Bedford  (see 
Appendix  C),  9.4  per  cent,  of  the  boys  and  33.9  per  cent,  of 
the  girls  have  lost  from  several  months  to  a  year,  while  3.2  per 
cent,  of  the  boys  and  13  per  cent,  of  the  girls  who  have  not 
married  have  lost  from  one  to  four  years.  The  evil  effects  of 
constant  or  periodic  idleness  during  this  formative  part  of  life 
cannot  be  too  strongly  emphasized,  and  show  the  need  of  super- 
vision of  these  young  people  during  their  first  years  at  work. 
The  work  which  they  now  do  is  monotonous,  and  because  they 
cannot  change  from  time  to  time  to  other  kinds  of  work  re- 
quiring a  similar  amount  of  skill,  they  lose  their  interest,  and 
many  leave  only  to  loaf  about.  It  was  found  in  the  study  of 
Lowell  boys,  who  seem  to  be  typical  (see  Appendix  C,  II),  that 
boys  frequently  leave  one  mill  and  go  to  another  to  do  the  same 
kind  of  work  simply  to  secure  a  change  in  surroundings  when 
they  cannot  change  their  work. 

The  education  which  has  been  received  by  those  who  go  to 
work  between  fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age  is  often  poor. 
Only  one  sixth  of  the  children  investigated  by  the  Douglas 
commission  in  1906  *  had  completed  the  grammar  grades.  In 
the  present  investigation  it  was  found  that  the  largest  number, 
21.4  per  cent,  of  the  total  leave  at  the  seventh  grade,  and  43.6 
per  cent,  leave  the  grades  below  the  seventh,  while  only  3.9  per 
cent,  have  gone  beyond  the  grammar  school.  The  data  pre- 
sented in  Appendix  C  seems  to  show  that  10.4  per  cent,  of  those 
entering  the  confectionery  industry  left  at  the  fourth  grade, 
while  35.3  per  cent  of  the  young  workers  in  cotton  mills  left  at 
the  fourth  or  fifth  grades.  More  than  three  fourths,  76.3  per 
cent,  of  the  textile  workers  studied  left  school  before  entering 
the  eighth  grade,  and  only  1.6  per  cent  went  beyond  the  gram- 
mar school.  The  shoe  workers  stand  best  in  education.  Forty- 

1  Report  of  Commission  on  Industrial  and  Technical  Education,  p.  85. 


11 

seven  and  two-tenths  per  cent,  of  those  studied  left  at  the  eighth 
or  ninth  grades,  and  8.3  per  cent,  went  beyond  the  grammar 
school.1 

It  is  generally  conceded  that  industry  as  at  present  organized 
is  not  able  satisfactorily  to  educate  its  young  workers.  Em- 
ployers find  that  their  workers  are  poorly  equipped  in  general 
knowledge,  and  lack  specific  training.  Some  employers  assert 
that  they  are  reorganizing  their  business  so  that  it  will  be  nec- 
essary to  employ  fewer  young  workers ;  but  a  comparison  of  total 
numbers  employed  in  the  various  industries  in  1904  with  the 
numbers  found  in  1909  shows  a  decided  increase  in  the  later 
year.2  This  may  mean  that  the  less  efficient  factories  are  em- 
ploying larger  numbers  of  young  people.  While  employers 
complain  of  having  to  employ  poorly  equipped  workers,  there 
is  much  to  be  said,  from  the  young  worker's  standpoint,  as  to 
the  prevailing  lack  of  opportunity  to  advance  in  industry. 
Judging  from  the  study  of  1,875  young  workers  made  for  this 
report  there  seem  to  exist  few  opportunities  to  progress  from 
job  to  job  which  would  make  for  advancement  in  vocational 
power.  Frequently  the  first  and  last  jobs  are  identical  in  char- 
acter, showing  that  while  there  may  have  been  at  times  an  ad- 
vance there  is  a  decline  later.3  In  the  studies  of  Fall  Kiver  and 
New  Bedford  workers  (see  Appendix  C,  p.  53),  cases  were 
found  in  which  there  had  been  advances  for  the  first  two  or 
three  years,  both  in  occupation  and  wage,  followed  by  a  decline, 
due  to  a  lack  of  physical  strength.  In  addition,  there  seems  to 
be  considerable  shifting  from  place  to  place  and  from  job  to  job. 
Many  of  the  workers  who  were  interviewed  had  shifted  several 
times.  This  was  true  even  of  some  of  those  who  had  been  work- 
ing only  a  year.  There  can  be  little  if  any  educational  value 
derived  from  a  year's  work  if  that  has  been  spent  in  several 
factories. 

Many  of  the  workers  interviewed  claimed  that  they  had  great 
difficulty  in  learning  a  process  requiring  skill.  Because  in  three 
or  four  years  they  had  been  able  to  increase  their  wages  but 
slightly,  and  could  see  little  opportunity  ahead,  many  give  up 
work  in  factories  for  anything  else  which  they  can  find.  Part- 

1  See  Table  IV,  Appendix  C,  p.  47.  »  See  Appendix  C,  II,  p.  55. 

J  See  Table  I,  Appendix  A,  p.  33. 


12 

time  schools  should  aim  to  prepare  such  persons  for  this  period 
of  transition,  and  to  pave  the  way  to  better  industrial  oppor- 
tunities. 

Long  hours  of  monotonous  employment,  and  the  fact  that 
under  present  conditions  workers  are  being  restricted  to  the 
operation  of  one  or  a  few  machines,  with  little  opportunity  to 
gain  a  general  knowledge  of  the  trade  or  business,  make  it 
imperative  that  part-time  schools  be  established  to  give  to  young 
workers  a  broader  knowledge  of  the  industry  than  they  are  now 
able  to  secure.  Under  the  present  industrial  system  there  is  a 
dearth  of  capable  foremen  and  superintendents,  due  to  the  lack 
of  opportunity  to  obtain  a  general  knowledge  of  the  industry,  a 
situation  which  should  be  met  by  part-time  schools. 

In  comparing  the  records  of  children  who  have  been  at  work 
one  year  with  those  who  have  worked  six  years,  we  get  much 
enlightenment  as  to  the  amount  of  progress  made  by  the  two 
groups.  In  the  textile  industry,  wrhich  employs  the  largest  num- 
ber of  young  people  (see  Appendix  C,  p.  73),  we  find  that  more 
advance  is  made  proportionately  in  one  year  than  in  six.  In 
the  matter  of  wages,  only  32.5  per  cent,  of  those  who  have  been 
at  work  six  years  have  increased  their  earnings  by  amounts  of 
from  $4  to  $6,  while  20  per  cent,  of  those  who  have  worked  only 
one  year  have  had  the  same  increase.  Nineteen  of  those  who 
had  been  working  six  years  were  still  earning  only  the  amount 
of  their  initial  wage.  Only  one  of  the  older  group  had  increased 
his  earnings  more  than  $9  in  six  years,  while  two  of  the  younger 
group  had  done  this  in  one  year.  This  situation  would  seem  to 
indicate  that  those  who  have  been  at  work  six  years  have  made 
very  little  progress  over  the  group  at  work  but  one  year.  If 
this  is  a  normal  condition  in  certain  industries,  then  part-time 
schools  might  give  training  which  will  enable  these  workers  to 
get  into  other  industries  which  offer  better  prospects. 

All-day  vocational  schools  can  render  much  service  in  bridg- 
ing the  gap  between  the  regular  and  part-time  schools  by 
discovering  the  type  and  character  of  work  which  can  be  given 
in  part-time  schools,  and  by  serving  as  training  centers  for 
teachers  of  part-time  and  evening  schools.1  The  principal  rea- 
son why  these  schools  have  as  yet  failed  to  reach  larger  num- 

1  See  Appendix  B,  p.  37. 


13 

bers  is  that  when  children  have  actually  left  school  and  started 
to  work  it  is  difficult  to  induce  them  or  their  parents  to  give 
up  the  full  wage  which  is  being  earned. 

While  the  all-day  vocational  school  can  do  much,  it  can- 
not entirely  meet  the  need  for  industrial  training.  The  ma- 
jority of  young  workers  need  experience  to  convince  them  of 
the  need  and  value  of  vocational  training.  Seventy  per  cent, 
of  the  young  workers  interviewed  were  found  to  favor  part-time 
schools,  and  their  industrial  experience  was  probably  responsi- 
ble for  this  attitude.  They  had  worked  long  enough  to  begin 
to  realize  their  deficiencies  in  education,  and  to  know  the  value 
of  training  along  industrial  lines.  These  workers  could  have 
steadier  employment  if  they  had  sufficient  industrial  knowledge 
to  enable  them  to  shift  from  machine  to  machine,  from  depart- 
ment to  department,  and,  in  the  case  of  seasonal  trades,  from 
one  trade  to  another. 

Evening  schools  do  not  solve  the  problem  as  regards  young 
workers  under  seventeen  years  of  age,  as  the  majority  of  them 
are  too  tired  to  attend,  even  where  technical  courses  are  offered. 
Experience  shows  that  while  many  may  register  in  evening 
schools  a  large  proportion  fail  to  attend  throughout  the  term. 
To  delay  the  training  of  these  young  workers  who  leave  school 
at  fourteen  to  a  time  when  only  a  few  may  realize  the  need  of 
instruction  and  attend  an  evening  school  must  result  in  a  dis- 
tinct loss.  Evening  attendance  is,  on  the  whole,  a  test  of  the 
energy,  ambition  and  vigor  of  the  wage  earner  to  which  many 
cannot  conform.  The  rush  home  at  the  end  of  a  long  day's 
work,  the  hurried  meal,  and  the  long  journey  to  school  centers 
are  handicaps  which  it  is  difficult  to  overcome.  Large  num- 
bers who  are  undoubtedly  worth  educating  do  not,  when  they 
reach  maturity,  attend  an  evening  school,  while  of  those  who  do 
many  have  been  out  of  school  for  so  many  years  that  they  have 
practically  forgotten  much  of  what  they  learned  before  leaving. 
Many  young  people  would  probably  be  glad  to  avail  themselves 
of  the  opportunity  to  receive  part-time  instruction  if  it  were 
offered  immediately  upon  their  leaving  the  elementary  schools, 
but  after  a  lapse  of  years  in  industry  it  will  be  difficult  to  induce 
them  to  take  such  training. 


14 


IV.     PRACTICABILITY   OF   ESTABLISHING   A   SYSTEM   OF   AP- 
PRENTICESHIP. 

In  recent  years,  methods  of  manufacturing  have  undergone 
such  radical  changes  that  the  older  system  of  apprenticeship 
is,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  no  longer  adapted  to  indus- 
try; and  any  substitute  offered  must  be  based  on  a  realization 
of  the  fact  that  young  people  are  no  longer  assistants  to  skilled 
workers  who  practice  the  whole  craft,  but  are  rather  independ- 
ent units  in  the  productive  process.1  So  far,  little  has  been 
done  to  adjust  the  methods  of  industrial  training  to  these  new 
conditions.  Even  Germany  does  not  show  us  adequately  how 
this  can  be  done,  for  the  part-time  or  continuation  school  work 
for  apprentices  there  is  mainly  for  those  employed  in  the  hand- 
work trades.  Young  persons  employed  in  the  factories  are 
classed  with  messengers  and  others  who  render  miscellaneous 
service,  and  only  general  training  is  provided  for  them.2 
Massachusetts  must,  then,  develop  its  own  system  of  vocational 
training  to  fit  the  new  conditions.  It  seems  apparent  that 
through  a  co-operative  plan  of  part-time  schooling  we  can  pro- 
vide not  only  necessary  liberal  training,  but  also  a  substitute 
for  apprenticeship  which  will  meet  new  conditions. 

V.     THE  PRACTICABILITY  OF  PART-TIME  SCHOOLING. 

The  practicability  of  part-time  training  must  be  considered 
from  at  least  three  points  of  view :  first,  from  that  of  the  worker, 
his  needs  and  economic  condition;  second,  from  that  of  school 
instruction,  especially  with  respect  to  the  possibility  of  so 
organizing  courses  that  effective  teaching  can  be  done;  and 
third,  from  that  of  the  employing  industry,  with  particular 
reference  to  the  need  of  such  instruction  for  the  future  welfare 
of  the  industry  and  also  as  to  the  possibility  of  its  being  so  con- 
ducted that  a  portion  of  the  workers'  time  during  the  day  can 
be  devoted  to  school  instruction. 

1.  Practicability  from  the  Standpoint  of  the  Worker.  —  In- 
vestigation of  the  economic  condition  of  workers  fourteen  to 

1  See  appendix  on  "Apprenticeship,"  p.  84. 

*  From  special  reports  made  by  American  consular  service  for  this  investigation.    Not  yet 
published. 


15 

seventeen  years  of  age  warrants  the  estimate  that  over  65  per 
cent,  of  these  could  in  case  of  necessity  give  all  their  time  to 
school,  while  approximately  35  per  cent,  apparently  could  not 
do  so.  Those  who  were  able,  as  judged  by  their  economic  con- 
dition, to  remain  in  school  doubtless  left  in  many  cases  either 
because  they  were  not  getting  what  they  wanted  or  because  they 
failed  in  what  was  expected  of  them.  These  youths  are  often 
of  the  type  that  learns  by  experience  and  by  doing,  and  conse- 
quently they  and  their  parents  much  preferred  working  to  at- 
tending school  of  the  prevailing  type. 

A  full-time  day  vocational  school  might  deal  effectively  with 
a  large  proportion  of  the  first  group;  but  much  which  can  be 
taught  in  a  day  vocational  school  can  also  be  given  in  part-time 
schools,  with  the  advantage  in  favor  of  the  greater  reality  of 
part-time  instruction.  For  those  whose  economic  condition  com- 
pels them  to  earn  wages,  part-time  schooling  is  the  only  practi- 
cable method  of  prolonging  the  opportunities  for  education. 
Many  of  these  doubtless  are  not  interested  in  further  education, 
but  there  is  no  reason  why  these  should  not  eventually  be  re- 
quired to  equip  themselves  properly  for  useful  careers. 

The  inauguration  of  any  extensive  plan  of  part-time  school- 
ing would  necessarily  involve  an  adjustment  of  the  wage  scale 
proportionate  to  the  amount  of  service  rendered  in  industry. 
Some  industries  have  a  dull  season  which  might  in  part  be  util- 
ized for  school  attendance.  Department  stores  often  have  a 
dull  period  during  the  day  when  time  could  perhaps  be  given  to 
the  school  without  a  loss  of  pay.  There  is  evidence  to  show  that 
in  work  requiring  much  thought  and  reasoning  power,  the  time 
taken  for  instruction  of  the  right  kind  soon  brings  increased 
earnings  to  the  worker  and  a  greater  profit  to  the  employer. 
There  are  many  workers  who  are  so  anxious  to  improve  their 
condition  that  when  approached  on  the  subject  they  have  stated 
that  they  would  give  up  Saturday  afternoons,  their  only  free 
time,  for  purposes  of  instruction.  In  the  city  of  Lowell,  the 
only  place  which  has  yet  offered  the  opportunity  for  this,  165 
have  already  demonstrated  that  they  are  in  earnest  in  this 
matter. 

2.  From  the  standpoint  of  school  organization  part-time 
schooling,  whether  vocational  or  otherwise,  is  practicable.  Sue- 


16 

cessful  part-time  instruction  has  already  been  given  to  groups 
selected  from  different  industries,1  in  Massachusetts  and  in 
other  States.  The  part-time  instruction  has  been  designed  for 
selected  groups  in  these  cases,  which  do  not  represent  the  whole 
number  of  young  people  employed  in  any  one  establishment; 
but  there  appears  to  be  no  reason  why  vocational  and  other 
schools  cannot  be  so  organized  that  equally  good  work  can  be 
done  with  all  others  employed  in  these  industries,  provided  time 
is  given  to  admit  of  the  training  of  teachers  and  directors  and 
the  development  of  suitable  courses  of  study. 

With  a  minimum  of  time,  for  example  eight  hours  per  week 
of  school  work,  it  would  be  possible  to  do  no  more  than  remove 
elementary  school  deficiencies,  while  giving  some  general  train- 
ing in  citizenship  and  in  such  technical  subjects  as  drawing, 
design  and  industrial  calculations.  In  the  case  of  many  girls 
engaged  in  occupations  requiring  little  or  no  technical  knowl- 
edge, instruction  might  consist  largely  of  training  in  the  house- 
hold arts.  To  give  any  adequate  training  in  the  technique  of 
the  trade  in  which  the  worker  is  employed  not  less  than  eight  or 
ten  hours  per  week  for  a  period  of  three  or  four  years  would 
be  required.  Young  people  employed  in  juvenile  or  temporary 
work  ought  to  be  trained  towards  adult  service  in  some  other 
industry  or  trade.  To  make  it  practicable  to  do  this,  about 
one  half  of  their  working  time  should  be  taken.  This  may  be 
done  by  devoting  a  half  of  each  day,  every  other  day,  or  every 
other  week,  to  school  work. 

3.  From  the  standpoint  of  the  organization  of  industry  it 
appears  to  be  generally  practicable  to  arrange  the  work  being 
done  by  young  people  so  that  a  part  of  their  working  time  can 
be  taken  to  attend  school.  As  is  pointed  out  on  page  104,  part- 
time  courses  of  thirteen  different  kinds  now  exist ;  and  arrange- 
ments have  just  been  completed  for  instruction  along  eleven  2 
additional  lines.  In  most  cases  the  initiative  in  organizing  these 
courses  has  been  taken  by  manufacturers  themselves,  some  of 
them  starting  classes  in  their  own  factories  and  later  turning 

1  Candy  making,  printing,  salesmanship  for  department  stores  and  other  mercantile  estab- 
lishments, office  work,  pattern  making,  machine  work,  draughting,  iron  moulding,  tinsmithing 
saw  making,  bricklaying,  carpentry,  textiles.  See  Appendix  E,  p.  104. 

*  Electrical  work,  shipwrighting,  ship  fitting,  ship  caulking,  cabinet  making,  plumbing,  black, 
smithing,  coppersmithing,  steam  fitting,  boiler  making  and  riveting,  sheet-iron  working.  See 
Appendix  E,  p.  106. 


17 

them  over  to  the  public  schools.  In  the  case  of  department 
stores  the  work  was  started  by  a  private  agency  which,  when  it 
reached  the  limit  of  its  available  resources,  was  able  to  transfer 
its  work  to  the  stores,  which  added  the  cost  to  overhead  expenses 
and  conducted  the  classes  themselves.  In  some  lines  of  employ- 
ment, such  as  that  of  department  stores,  candy  making,  and  boot 
and  shoe  manufacturing,  at  least  a  portion  of  the  time  devoted  to 
school  work  can  be  taken  during  a  dull  season  of  the  year  or  a 
dull  part  of  the  day,  but  in  any  large  plan  which  will  provide 
for  the  training  of  every  boy  and  girl  some  means  must  be 
found  of  filling  the  places  of  most  of  those  who  are  for  the  time 
attending  school.  In  some  lines  of  business  this  can  be  accom- 
plished by  having  two  people  trained  to  do  the  same  work.  In 
certain  parts  of  England  the  textile  business  has  been  so  organ- 
ized for  years  that  young  workers  are  paired  at  assigned  tasks, 
one  working  in  the  morning,  the  other  in  the  afternoon,  and 
each  attending  school  the  portion  of  the  day  when  not  employed. 
In  America  machine  shops,  foundries,  printing  establishments, 
and  to  some  extent  the  textile  industries,  provide  for  a  plan 
whereby  alternating  weeks  are  given  by  young  workers  to  shop 
and  to  school.  Two  boys  are  employed  on  the  same  job,  one 
working  in  the  shop  one  week  while  his  partner  attends 
school.  The  next  week  they  exchange  places.  In  this  way 
production  in  the  factory  or  shop  is  not  interrupted,  the  student 
gains  valuable  practical  experience  upon  which  to  build  during 
the  week  in  school,  and  the  teacher  can  use  this  practical  experi- 
ence as  a  basis  of  training.  In  this  State  and  elsewhere  certain 
'machine  shop,  printing,  and  confectionery  establishments  are 
already  sending  selected  groups  to  school  for  periods  of  from 
four  to  six  hours  in  length  during  one  working  day  of  each  week. 
In  many  instances  this  is  being  done  during  a  dull  period  of  the 
day,  when  the  services  of  the  absentees  can  be  spared  with  a 
minimum  of  inconvenience.  To  organize  this  plan  on  a  scale 
permitting  each  young  employee  to  have  a  half  day  a  week  of 
instruction  would  necessitate  the  employment  of  a  force  from 
one  twelfth  to  one  eleventh  larger  in  each  case.  If  more  time 
were  devoted  to  school  work,  a  force  larger  in  proportion  to 
the  amount  of  time  given  to  the  school  would  be  required.  In 
many  factories  to-day  such  an  extra  force  is  maintained 


18 

to  fill  the  places  of  those  who  are  out  for  sickness  or  any  other 
cause.  This  would  be  merely  an  extension  of  the  same  system.. 

Any  system  of  part-time  instruction  made  compulsory  at 
the  present  time,  with  the  slight  knowledge  on  the  part  of 
employers  as  to  how  they  might  organize  their  business  in 
harmony  with  it,  would  probably  lead  to  a  reduction  in  the 
number  of  their  young  employees;  perhaps,  in  some  cases,  to 
their  ceasing  to  employ  children  altogether.  In  the  case  of 
textile  work,  where  some  employers  might  abandon  the  em- 
ployment of  children  altogether,  others  would  probably  find  it 
profitable  to  engage  those  discharged  by  their  competitors.  The 
net  result,  however,  could  hardly  fail  to  be  to  throw  out  of  work 
large  numbers  of  children  who  need  the  wage,  and  whom  the 
schools  are  not  prepared  to  handle  efficiently. 

Employers  who  have  thought  about  the  problem  at  all  not 
only  feel  that  something  ought  to  be  done,  but  they  are  ready 
to  co-operate  as  soon  as  the  opportunity  is  presented.  They 
confess  their  inability  to  give  the  time  and  thought  necessary 
to  work  out  a  solution  themselves,  but  await  the  submission  of 
practical  plans.  Not  a  few  are  asking  to  have  the  problem 
studied  as  it  relates  to  their  own  business,  with  the  hope  of 
receiving  practical  suggestions.  Employers  in  Massachusetts 
are  generally  interested  in  the  happiness,  welfare  and  efficiency 
of  their  employees.  They  are  ready  for  the  formulation  and 
promotion  of  practical  plans  of  co-operation  between  the  school 
and  the  employer  in  the  interests  of  both  our  children  and  our 
industries,  and  there  is  abundant  reason  to  believe  that  it  is 
possible  to  carry  out,  on  a  basis  of  voluntary  co-operation,  as 
extensive  plans  for  part-time  schooling  as  the  State  is  prepared 
to  handle  efficiently.  (See  Appendix  E,  p.  124.) 


VI.     EXISTING  MEANS  WHICH  MIGHT  BE  MADE  TO  FUKNISH 

VOCATIONAL  TRAINING. 

In  1906  the  Douglas  commission  called  attention  in  a  force- 
ful way  to  the  educational  and  industrial  condition  of  boys 
and  girls  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  sixteen  years, 
and  recommended  a  new  type  of  school  to  meet  their  needs. 
These  schools  have  been  established  in  an  experimental  way  in 


19 

a  few  communities,  but  they  should  be  extended,  developed  and 
made  the  agency  to  work  out  courses  of  study,  to  develop 
teachers  and  methods  of  teaching,  and  to  put  into  operation  co- 
operative plans  of  part-time  schooling  as  a  substitute  for  the 
old  system  of  apprenticeship.1 

VII.     SUGGESTED  PROGRAMS. 

It  is  recommended  that  the  programs  of  part-time  training 
offered  provide  for  both  liberal  and  vocational  training.  If 
only  four  or  five  hours  per  week  are  devoted  to  the  school,  the 
training  offered  should  be  primarily  liberal,  and  aim  to  make 
the  workers  more  intelligent  industrial  and  civic  units.  When 
more  than  this  amount  of  time  can  be  given  the  training  should 
be  both  liberal  and  vocational.2 

VIII.     CONCLUSIONS. 

As  a  result  of  the  present  inquiry  into  the  needs  of  part-time 
education,  the  following  conclusions  have  been  reached :  — 

1.  There  is  a  distinct  need  for  the  further  development  of 
part-time  education   in  Massachusetts,   evidenced  by  the  fact 
that  upwards  of  40,000  young  persons  from  fourteen  to  seven- 
teen years  of   age   are   constantly   employed   in  wage-earning 
pursuits,  most  of  whom  have  not  completed  an  elementary  edu- 
cation, and  nearly  all  of  whom  have  little  or  no  opportunity  for 
systematic  vocational  training  toward  occupations  suitable  to 
adults. 

2.  Part-time  education  as  a  means  of  giving  more  adequate 
liberal  and  vocational  education  to  young  people  already  em- 
ployed is,  in  large  measure  at  least,  practicable,  both  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  employing  industries  and  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  schools,  as  a  means  of  efficient  instruction  for  young 
persons. 

3.  The  further  development  of  part-time  education  in  Mas- 
sachusetts requires  but  little  legislation  additional  to  that  now 
existing.     There  is  need,  however,  for  the  further  development 
of  existing  agencies  for  the  conduct  of  vocational  education, 

1  See  Appendix  B,  "Existing  Systems  of  General  and  Vocational  Education,"  p.  37. 
*  See  Appendix  F,  p.  124. 


20 

and  also  for  the  elaboration  and  testing  of  practicable  plans  for 
part-time  training. 

4.  Existing  agencies  of  vocational  education,  including  even- 
ing schools,  while  effective  within  the  limits  of  their  present 
development,   reach   as   yet  comparatively   few   of   the  young 
people  of  the  Commonwealth. 

5.  There  is  no  evidence  that  systems  of  apprenticeship  of  the 
character  once  common  in  the  trades  can  be  revived  and  em- 
ployed as  a  means  of  meeting  the  need  of  vocational  education 
for  young  people  from  fourteen  to  seventeen  years  of  age. 

6.  The  historic  policy  of  Massachusetts  as  regards  education 
has  been,  first,  to  make  the  offering  of  an  educational  opportu- 
nity permissive  on  the  part  of  the  community;  second,  to  make 
mandatory  the  offering  of  the  opportunity ;  and  third,  to  make 
it  compulsory  on  the  part  of  young  persons  to  take  advantage 
of  the  opportunity.     The  first  step  in  this  policy  has  already 
been  taken,  so  far  as  vocational  education  is  concerned,  and 
thirty-five  cities  and  towns  have  made  very  creditable  begin- 
nings in  the  work  of  offering  opportunities  along  vocational 
lines.    Most  communities,  however,  do  not  yet  offer  such  oppor- 
tunities for  vocational  education.    There  is  no  evidence  to  show 
that  a  need  for  it  does  not  exist;  indeed,  this  investigation  has 
shown  that  many  young  people  might  be  reached  in  these  cities 
which  do  not  yet  offer  vocational  education,  and  that  much  more 
might  yet  be  done  even  in  communities  which  are  now  maintain- 
ing such  schools.    The  experience  of  the  last  four  years  in  deal- 
ing with  the  problem,  and  the  facts  collected  during  this  inves- 
tigation, justify  the  conclusion  that  the  general  Massachusetts 
policy  of  moving  forward  by  voluntary  schemes  of  experimenta- 
tion and  investigation  should  be  continued,  with  the  ultimate 
view  of  further  educating  in  some  degree  every  boy  and  girl 
between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  seventeen. 

7.  Legislation  already  enacted  relative  to  vocational  and  part- 
time  education  has  been  sound.     Chapter  471,  Acts  of  1911,  is 
fully  adequate  for  the  further  establishment  of  voluntary  part- 
time  courses,  and  for  their  supervision  on  an  efficient  basis.     It 
is  the  belief  of  the  Board  that  part-time  schooling  should  be 
made  compulsory  throughout  the  State  at  some  time  in  the  fu- 
ture, when  all  children  employed  between  the  ages  of  fourteen 


21 

and  seventeen  might  be  required  by  law  to  attend  part-time 
schools,  at  the  rate  of  not  less  than  eight  hours  weekly.  When 
this  is  done  these  schools  should  offer  courses  of  general  training 
for  citizenship,  and,  in  the  case  of  the  girls'  trades,  where  suffi- 
cient related  and  theoretical  training  cannot  be  given,  training 
in  the  household  arts  should  be  substituted. 

8.  The  further  development  of  part-time  education  will  re- 
quire that  the  Board  should  employ  at  least  one  permanent 
agent  for  the  promotion  of  this  type  of  education.     It  should 
be  this  agent's  duty  to  aid  communities  in  the  establishment  of 
part-time  courses.     He  should  also  collect  such  information  as 
would  be  of  value  in  planning  courses  of  study  for  industries 
with  reference  to  which  sufficient  information  is  not  available. 

9.  Legislation  should  be  enacted  which  will  make  suitable 
provision  for  the  training  of  future  vocational  school  teachers 
and  directors,  and  for  the  professional  improvement  of  those 
now  in  the  service.     To  do  this  the  State  Board  of  Education 
should  be  empowered  and  directed  to  organize  training  classes, 
to  which  should  be  admitted  persons  with  a  sufficiently  broad 
trade  or  industrial  experience  to  enable  them  to  become  teachers 
of  part-time  or  other  vocational  work.1 

10.  The  interests  of  all  forms  of  education  require  that  ex- 
isting laws  regarding  school  attendance  should  be  more  effec- 
tively administered.     Where  these  prove  inadequate  to  meet 
the  needs  of  part-time  education,  further  educational  legisla- 
tion should  be  enacted. 

IX.     RECOMMENDATIONS. 

In  obedience  to  the  resolve,  the  Board  of  Education  respect 
fully  submits  the  following  recommendations :  — 

I.  Legislation  should  be  enacted  requiring  the  attendance 
upon  some  school  of  every  child,  not  specifically  exempted  for 
satisfactory  cause,  between  fourteen  and  sixteen  years  of  age, 
who  is  not  regularly  employed;  in  addition  to  which,  such 
changes  in  the  present  laws  regarding  compulsory  education 
should  be  enacted  as  will  enable  school  committees  effectively 
to  control  and  require  the  attendance  at  approved  schools  of 
boys  and  girls  of  such  ages. 

1  See  Appendix  F,  "  Programs  for  Training  Teachers,"  p.  124. 


22 

II.  Legislation  should  be  enacted  which  will  enable  cities 
and  towns,  through  their  school  committees,  to  require  part-time 
school  attendance  of  all  boys  and  girls  between  fourteen  and  six- 
teen years  of  age  who  are  regularly  employed,  at  a  rate  of  not 
less  than  four  hours  per  week  upon  an  approved  school  during 
the  time  when  such  schools  are  in  session.     Such  attendance 
should  be  made  between  the  hours  of  7  A.M.  and  6  P.M.  of  any 
working  day  or  days. 

III.  The  Board  of  Education  recommends  in  addition  to 
legislation  providing  for  the  compulsory  attendance  on  school 
of  all  unemployed  children  under  sixteen  years  of  age,  the  pas- 
sage of  the  following  proposed  act :  — 

AN  ACT  TO  PROVIDE  FOR  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  AND  MAINTENANCE  OF 
CONTINUATION   SCHOOLS  AND   COURSES  OF  INSTRUCTION  FOR  THE 
EDUCATION  OF  YOUNG  PERSONS  BETWEEN  FOURTEEN  AND  SIXTEEN 
YEARS  OF  AGE  WHO  ARE  REGULARLY  EMPLOYED. 
Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  as  follows: 

SECTION  1.  When  the  school  committee  of  any  town  or  city  shall 
have  established  continuation  schools  or  courses  of  instruction  for  the 
education  of  young  persons  between  fourteen  and  sixteen  years  of  age 
who  are  regularly  employed  in  such  city  or  town  not  less  than  six  hours 
per  day,  said  school  committee  may  (with  the  consent  of  the  board  of 
education)  require  the  attendance  in  such  continuation  schools  or  on 
such  courses  of  instruction  of  every  young  person  thereafter  receiving 
an  age  and  schooling  certificate  who  is  not  otherwise  receiving  instruc- 
tion approved  by  the  school  committee  as  equivalent  to  that  provided 
in  schools  established  under  the  provisions  of  this  act.  The  required 
attendance  provided  for  in  this  act  shall  be  at  the  rate  of  not  less  than 
four  hours  per  week,  and  shall  be  between  the  hours  of  eight  o'clock  in 
the  morning  and  six  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  any  working  day  or 
days.  The  time  spent  by  a  child  in  a  continuation  school  or  class  shall 
be  reckoned  within  the  time  or  number  of  hours  that  minors  are  per- 
mitted by  law  to  work. 

SECTION  2.  Continuation  schools  or  courses  of  instruction,  as  pro- 
vided in  section  one  of  this  act,  shall,  so  long  as  they  are  approved  by 
the  state  board  of  education  as  to  organization,  control,  location,  equip- 
ment, courses  of  study,  qualification  of  teachers,  methods  of  instruction, 
conditions  of  admission,  employment  of  pupils  and  expenditure  of  the 
money,  constitute  approved  continuation  schools  or  courses  of  instruc- 
tion. Cities  and  towns  maintaining  such  approved  continuation  schools 
or  courses  of  instruction  shall  receive  reimbursement  from  the  common- 
wealth, as  provided  in  section  three  of  this  act. 

SECTION  3.     The  commonwealth,  in  order  to  aid  in  the  maintenance 


23 

of  approved  continuation  schools  or  courses,  shall,  as  provided  in  this 
act,  pay  annually  from  the  treasury  to  cities  and  towns  maintaining 
such  schools  or  courses  an  amount  equal  to  one  half  the  sum,  to  be 
known  as  the  net  maintenance  sum.  Such  net  maintenance  sum  shall 
consist  of  the  total  sum  raised  by  local  taxation  and  expended  for  the 
maintenance  of  such  a  school,  less  the  amount  for  the  same  period  of 
tuition  claims  paid  or  unpaid  and  receipts  from  the  work  of  pupils  or 
the  sale  of  products. 

SECTION  4.  Any  young  person  between  fourteen  and  sixteen  years 
of  age  who  is  regularly  employed  in  a  city  or  town  other  than  that  in 
which  the  said  young  person  resides  may  attend  a  continuation  school 
or  courses  of  instruction,  as  provided  in  section  one  of  this  act,  in  the 
city  or  town  in  which  such  young  person  resides.  Any  young  person 
attending  a  continuation  school  or  courses  of  instruction,  as  hereinbefore 
described,  in  the  city  or  town  of  such  young  person's  residence  in  pref- 
erence to  attending  such  school  or  courses  of  instruction  in  the  city  or 
town  of  such  young  person's  employment,  shall  file  or  cause  to  be  filed 
regularly,  and  not  less  often  than  once  a  month,  with  the  superin- 
tendent, or  his  representative  duly  authorized  in  writing,  of  the  city  or 
town  in  which  such  young  person  is  employed,  a  report  of  attendance 
certified  by  the  superintendent,  or  his  representative  duly  authorized  in 
writing,  of  the  city  or  town  in  which  such  young  person  is  attending 
school:  provided,  however,  that  the  filing  of  such  certified  report  of 
attendance  with  the  superintendent  of  a  city  or  town  in  which  attend- 
ance on  continuation  schools  or  courses  of  instruction  as  defined  in 
section  one  of  this  act  is  not  compulsory  shall  not  be  required. 

SECTION  5.  The  employer  of  any  young  person  between  fourteen  and 
sixteen  years  of  age  who  is  compelled  by  the  provisions  and  regulations 
either  of  the  school  committee  in  the  city  or  town  in  which  such  young 
person  resides  or  of  the  school  committee  in  the  city  or  town  in  which 
such  young  person  is  employed  to  attend  a  continuation  school  or 
courses  of  instruction  as  defined  in  section  one  of  this  act,  shall  cease 
forthwith  to  employ  such  young  person  when  notified  in  writing  by  the 
superintendent,  or  his  representative  duly  authorized  in  writing,  having 
jurisdiction  over  such  young  person's  school  attendance,  that  such 
young  person  is  not  attending  school  in  accordance  with  the  compulsory 
attendance  regulations  as  defined  in  section  one  of  this  act.  Any  em- 
ployer who  fails  to  comply  with  the  provisions  of  this  section  shall  be 
punished  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  ten  nor  more  than  one  hundred 
dollars  for  each  offence. 

SECTION  6.  The  superintendent  of  schools  having  jurisdiction,  or  a 
person  authorized  by  him  in  writing,  may  revoke  the  age  and  schooling 
certificate  of  any  child  who  is  required  by  the  provisions  of  this  act  to 
attend  a  continuation  school  or  courses,  if  such  child  fails  to  attend  such 
school  or  courses  as  provided  by  this  act. 

SECTION  7.  This  act  shall  take  effect  September  first,  nineteen  hun- 
dred and  thirteen. 


APPENDICES. 


PART  II. 

APPENDICES 


APPENDIX  A. 


AIMS  AND  SCOPE  OF  THE  INVESTIGATION. 

The  purpose  of  chapter  64  of  the  Resolves  of  1911  is  to  find  a 
practical  solution  of  the  problem  of  further  educating  the  40,000  young 
people  between  fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age  who  are  employed 
in  Massachusetts.  It  is  estimated  that  in  addition  to  those  at  work 
there  are  35,000  boys  and  girls  of  these  ages  who  are  not  in  school, 
and  who  are  employed  either  intermittently  or  not  at  all.  From  the 
standpoint  of  the  welfare  of  the  State,  the  consideration  of  this  group 
forms  as  important  a  problem  in  itself  as  does  that  of  those  who  are 
regularly  employed.  The  legislation  of  various  countries  is  evidence 
of  the  fact  that  it  is  coming  to  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  duties  of 
society  to  provide  some  form  of  continuation  education  for  these  young 
people.  Several  States  in  Germany,  as  well  as  other  countries,  have 
enacted  laws  which  make  a  specified  amount  of  school  attendance  up 
to  the  ages  of  seventeen  or  eighteen  years  compulsory. 

Any  practical  working  out  of  a  program  of  part-time  education, 
without  considerable  adjustment  of  industry,  will  require  the  employ- 
ment of  additional  young  people  who  would  probably  be  drawn  from 
two  groups,  a  small  number  from  those  between  fourteen  and  seventeen 
who  are  now  in  school,  but  a  larger  number  from  those  who  are  neither 
in  school  nor  at  work.  The  State  is  thus  confronted  with  the  problem 
of  ultimately  educating  all  children  up  to  seventeen  years  of  age.  This 
means  that  the  school  authorities  must  share  in  the  responsibility  of 
educating  every  child,  not  a  selected  few,  and  that  the  system  of  educa- 
tion must  be  made  to  meet  not  only  the  requirements  of  colleges  and 
the  professions,  but  the  much  more  difficult  requirements  of  citizenship, 
industry  and  business. 

The  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  has  for  a  great  many  years 
shown  its  interest  in  and  desire  to  promote  any  form  of  education 
which  will  make  for  the  intelligence,  efficiency,  prosperity  and  happi- 
ness of  her  citizens  and  the  fullest  and  best  development  of  her  in- 
dustries. The  resolve  authorizing  the  present  investigation  and  re- 
port is  but  further  evidence  of  the  determination  of  the  State  that  all 


28 

her  young  people  shall  receive  an  adequate  training  for  citizenship  and 
their  life  work. 

Within  the  time  allowed,  and  with  the  amount  of  money  appro- 
priated, it  was  not  practicable  to  make  a  complete  study  of  all  the 
situations  involved,  and  to  submit  recommendations  as  to  practical 
programs  of  part-time  schooling  for  the  large  number  of  young  per- 
sons employed  in  connection  with  some  230  different  industries  in 
Massachusetts.1  There  have  been  no  adequate  means  of  presenting  the 
entire  problem  in  statistical  detail.  No  records  exist  which  give  accu- 
rately the  numbers  that  would  be  affected  by  possible  legislation. 
There  are  no  available  records  of  the  number  of  age  and  schooling  cer- 
tificates annually  granted.  Serviceable  records  of  the  number  of  chil- 
dren in  school  under  fourteen  years  of  age  nor  of  those  either  in  or 
out  of  school  over  fourteen  are  not  available.2  The  accessible  records 
of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  and  of  the  district  police  regarding  those 
employed  are  incomplete.  From  the  beginning  it  was  apparent  that 
this  report  could  not  present  the  problem  from  the  statistical  stand- 
point as  adequately  as  might  be  desired. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  also  became  apparent  that  exact  statistical 
information  as  to  many  features  was  not  needed.  It  is  a  matter  of 
common  information  that  large  numbers  of  young  people  leave  school 
at  or  about  fourteen  years  of  age;  that  many  of  these  have  not  com- 
pleted the  elementary  course  of  study;  that  they  can  be  offered  little 
or  no  systematic  education  in  the  industries  in  which  they  are  em- 
ployed; that  there  is  a  widespread  demand  in  the  industries  for  better 
trained  workers;  and  that  the  employment  of  the  large  majority  of 
young  persons  is  intermittent  and  involves  a  considerable  amount 
of  shifting  from  one  occupation  to  another.  Hence,  in  the  present 
study,  chief  consideration  has  been  given  to  the  following  questions: 
(1)  Is  part-time  schooling  practicable  in  those  industries  employing 
children  under  seventeen  years  of  age?  (2)  What  methods  of  training 
can  be  adopted  on  a  part-time  basis  to  provide  general  and  vocational 
instruction  and  thus  benefit  both  the  worker  and  the  industry?  (3) 
What  are  practicable  programs  to  this  end? 

To  put  into  operation  a  complete  program  of  part-time  schooling 
will  add  about  80,000  to  the  number  now  attending  public  schools,  and 
will  greatly  complicate  the  problem  of  public  education.  If  part-time 
schools  are  to  be  successful,  the  facts  as  to  the  children  and  industries 
in  each  community  contemplating  the  establishment  of  such  schools 
must  be  available,  and  the  kind  of  training  necessary  for  success  in 
business  and  for  the  well-being  of  the  individual  should  be  understood. 
Above  all,  there  must  be  developed  a  body  of  teachers  competent  to 
deal  with  the  problem  in  such  a  way  that  the  pupils  will  learn  through 
the  study  of  real  things,  not  abstractions.  Such  a  program  of  education 

1  Classification  of  industries,  Bureau  of  Statistics,  report  on  Manufactures,  1909. 
»  Note  on  number  between  fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age,  Appendix  A,  p.  32. 


29 

means  that  the  school  must  assume  to  a  very  great  extent  the  responsi- 
bility for  the  welfare  of  young  people  while  they  are  adjusting  them- 
selves to  the  problems  of  adult  life. 

For  the  details  of  such  a  program,  comparatively  little  assistance 
can  be  derived  from  the  experience  of  other  countries.  Germany  has 
developed  an  extensive  system  of  training  for  citizenship  and  industry, 
and  it  is  believed  that  much  of  her  prosperity  has  been  due  to  her  far- 
sighted  policy  in  this  direction.  Examination  will  show,  however,  that 
the  industrial  and  social  conditions  in  Germany  differ  in  marked  de- 
gree from  those  found  in  the  United  States.  The  greater  part  of  the 
vocational  training  developed  in  other  countries  is  designed  either  to 
fit  a  selected  few  for  leadership  in  highly  organized  industry,  or  to 
train  for  trades  and  industries  which  are  still  conducted  largely  on 
the  basis  of  individual  production.  American  industry  is  based  on 
large  scale,  standard  output,  the  use  of  remarkably  ingenious  machines 
and  the  ability  of  employers  to  utilize  unskilled  labor. 

In  the  present  study,  special  attention  has  been  given  to  those  in- 
dustries of  the  Commonwealth  which,  as  reported  in  the  United  States 
census,  employ  the  largest  number  of  young  people.  The  metal  trades 
were  selected  to  represent  a  type  of  industry  which  requires  considerable 
all-round  skill,  and  one  for  which  the  schools  have  been  successfully 
preparing  in  all-day,  evening  and  part-time  courses.  These  trades 
have  a  close  connection  with  all  others.  They  are  found  in  some  form 
in  nearly  every  city  and  in  many  towns  in  the  Commonwealth. 

Cotton  manufacturing,  which  is  found  in  144  of  the  354  cities  and 
towns  of  the  State,  was  chosen  to  represent  the  textile  industries  be- 
cause it  is  the  largest  of  these  and  because  it  employs  young  workers 
in  largest  numbers.  It  is  an  industry  for  which  it  is  commonly  sup- 
posed that  little  special  preparation  can  be  given,  and  therefore  it  has 
not  been  touched  by  day  vocational  schools. 

The  manufacture  of  boots  and  shoes  was  selected  because  it  employs 
the  second  largest  number  of  children,  and  represents  an  industry  which 
is  more  minutely  subdivided  and  specialized  than  any  other,  having 
some  184  different  operations.  It  is  in  part  a  highly  skilled  industry, 
and  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the  industry  be  supplied  with 
skilled  and  intelligent  workmen. 

The  printing  and  publishing  business  was  chosen  because  it  is  semi- 
mechanical,  and  because  certain  phases  of  it  require  more  general  educa- 
tion of  the  type  offered  in  the  regular  public  schools  than  is  demanded 
by  any  other  industry.  It  stands  twelfth  in  rank  as  to  number  of  young 
people  employed. 

Department  stores  were  selected  to  represent  the  mercantile  branch 
of  industry,  since,  as  a  whole,  including  messenger  and  errand  service, 
it  is  next  to  the  textile  industry  in  the  number  of  young  people  it 
employs.  Exceptionally  successful  preparatory  work  on  a  part-time 
basis  is  already  being  done  in  connection  with  department  stores,  and 


30 

it  was  deemed  advisable  to  discover  to  what  extent  such  work  is  ca- 
pable of  being  adapted  to  other  similar  lines.  Department  stores  present 
an  educational  problem  in  which  girls  are  mainly  concerned,  and,  as  in 
the  case  of  printing  for  boys,  there  is  a  close  connection  with  regular 
school  work,  in  that  more  general  education  of  the  type  offered  by  the 
public  schools  is  required  than  is  necessary  in  most  other  branches  of 
industry. 

Candy  making  was  selected  because  it  is  a  type  of  industry  which 
requires  little  skill,  and  the  economic  condition  of  the  workers,  due  to 
the  low  wage,  is  so  poor  that  a  type  of  training  should  be  offered  which 
would  increase  the  earning  power  of  those  employed.  The  time  for  this 
training  should  be  so  arranged  that  it  would  not  be  necessary  to  reduce 
the  wages  during  the  period  of  instruction.  Although  the  actual  number 
of  young  workers  engaged  in  candy  making  is  comparatively  small, 
yet  the  percentage  of  young  employees  is  larger  than  in  any  other 
industry. 

Through  the  age  and  schooling  certificates  which  have  been  granted 
in  the  several  cities  where  investigations  of  young  workers  were  made, 
it  was  possible  to  secure  the  names  of  persons  who  left  school  six  years 
ago,  together  with  the  names  of  their  parents  and  of  their  first  em- 
ployers.1 The  present  addresses  of  these  young  workers  were  ascertained 
through  city  directories,  and  although  a  large  proportion  could  not  be 
traced,  yet  a  sufficient  number  for  the  purposes  of  this  study  were  found 
and  interviewed  in  their  homes  with  a  view  to  finding  out:  (1)  their  pre- 
vious school  record;  (2)  what  proportion  had  left  the  industry  in  which 
they  began  their  industrial  career;  (3)  what  proportion  had  remained 
in  that  industry;  (4)  of  what  value  the  six  years  had  been  in  securing 
experience  in  the  industry  and  their  prospects  for  future  advancement. 

In  a  similar  way,  boys  and  girls  who  had  been  out  of  school  only  one 
year  were  found  and  interviewed,  to  compare  their  experience  with  the 
experience  of  those  who  had  been  at  work  six  years.  Information  was 
also  collected  for  2,462  mature  workers  in  different  trades,  to  ascertain 
the  extent  of  their  schooling,  the  time  which  it  had  taken  to  learn  the 
occupation  or  trade  followed,  and  the  kind  of  experience  which  they 
had  had  in  other  occupations.8 

Much  time  was  spent  in  different  manufacturing  establishments  for 
which  the  schools  have  previously  given  little  training,  to  compare  the 
kind  of  work  done  and  the  sort  of  skill  required  with  the  requirements 
in  those  industries  and  trades  for  which  the  schools  have  been  success- 
fully preparing.  Manufacturers,  superintendents,  foremen  and  work- 
men were  interviewed,  to  ascertain  their  attitude  toward  training  for 
the  business,  the  kind  of  training  needed  and  whether  or  not  it  would 
be  possible  to  organize  the  work  so  that  part  time  could  be  taken  for 
schooling.  With  but  two  exceptions,  employers  showed  the  utmost 
courtesy  to  the  agents  of  the  Board  who  conducted  this  investigation. 

1  See  Appendix  C,  p.  44.  *  See  Appendix  C,  III,  p.  62. 


31 

They  gave  unsparingly  of  their  time  during  business  hours,  and  they 
often  gave  whole  evenings  to  conferences.  In  almost  every  case  where 
it  was  requested  the  agents  were  given  free  access  to  their  plants  for 
days  at  a  time,  and  were  allowed  to  inspect  books  and  copy  records. 
This  was  more  than  could  reasonably  have  been  expected  when  it  was 
not  required  by  law,  and  without  the  personal  help  on  the  part  of 
manufacturers,  superintendents,  foremen,  labor  union  officials  and 
others,  this  report  would  not  have  been  possible,  for  it  was  found  that 
information  obtained  by  correspondence  alone  was  practically  worth- 
less. Educators  who  have  studied  the  problem  abroad,  who  have  or- 
ganized work  in  this  country  and  have  had  successful  trade  and 
general  educational  experience  were  consulted.  Special  agents  were 
employed  to  give  expert  opinion  on  technical  points  and  to  collect 
information  regarding  boys  and  girls  in  their  relation  to  industry. 
It  was  found  that  the  Department  of  Research  of  the  Women's  Edu- 
cational and  Industrial  Union  of  Boston  had  already  started  the  study 
of  women  and  girls  in  the  shoe  industry,  and  all  the  material  which 
they  had  collected  was  made  available  for  the  purposes  of  this  study. 

The  following  method  was  used  in  making  an  estimate  of  the  num- 
ber of  children  between  fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age  who  are 
neither  in  school  nor  at  work.  The  total  number  of  children  in  Massa- 
chusetts between  five  and  seventeen  years  of  age  is  estimated  at 
712,000.1  The  total  number  of  children  in  all  elementary  and  second- 
ary schools,  both  public  and  private,  is  634,200.2  This  includes  all  the 
children  in  school  except  those  in  higher  institutions  of  learning,  both 
those  under  five  and  those  over  seventeen.  There  are  really  less  than 
634,200,  then,  in  school  between  the  ages  of  five  and  seventeen.  As- 
suming, however,  that  this  accurately  represents  the  number,  we  find 
that  there  are  77,800  children  between  the  ages  of  five  and  seventeen 
who  are  not  in  school.  Of  these,  possibly  2  per  cent,  may  be  illegally 
employed  under  fourteen  and  another  2  per  cent.,  through  illness  or 
other  causes,  may  be  at  home.  That  is,  there  may  be  3,100  under 
fourteen  who  are  at  home  for  one  cause  or  another.  That  leaves 
74,700  between  fourteen  and  seventeen  who  are  not  in  school.  It  is 
estimated  that  only  40,000s  of  these  are  at  work;  34,700,  then,  are 
neither  at  work  nor  in  school. 

From  the  report  of  the  State  Board  of  Education  for  1910,  we  find 
that  there  are  in  school  471,000  children  between  the  ages  of  five  and 
fifteen  years.  If  we  assume  that  there  is  an  equal  number  of  each  age 
we  should  estimate  the  number  between  fourteen  and  fifteen  as  one 
tenth  of  the  total,  or  47,100.  Certainly  that  is  larger  than  the  true 
number,  for  the  number  at  the  age  of  fourteen  is  much  smaller  than 

1  Total  population  from  advance  sheets,  1910  census  of  Massachusetts;  56  per  cent,  are  under 
seventeen  years  of  age.  See  page  559,  1905  census  of  Massachusetts. 

8  Report  of  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  1911. 

J  Factory  inspector's  report,  1911,  gives  24,000.  It  is  estimated  that  this  is  two  thirds  of  whole 
number.  Inspectors  do  not  go  to  all  factories,  so  4,000  were  added  on  this  account. 


32 

the  number  at  five  years,  on  account  of  the  death  rate  and  on  account 
of  the  fact  that  large  numbers  leave  school  at  fourteen. 

Now  let  us  further  assume  that  all  these  children  between  fourteen 
and  fifteen  are  in  the  elementary  schools.  The  number  over  fifteen  in 
the  elementary,  schools  is  a  negligible  proportion  of  the  total.  Con- 
sequently, these  47,000  children  are  many  more  than  the  total  number 
between  fourteen  and  seventeen  in  the  elementary  schools.  From  the 
report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education  we  find  that 
there  are  63,000  children  in  the  secondary  schools.  Surely  not  more 
than  three  fourths  of  these,  or  47,000,  could  be  between  fourteen  and 
•seventeen  years  of  age.  Then  the  total  number  in  school  between  four- 
teen and  seventeen  years  of  age  would  be  94,000.  Now  the  estimated 
number  in  Massachusetts  between  fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age 
is  167,000.  There  are,  then,  73,000  between  fourteen  and  seventeen 
who  are  not  in  school.  Forty  thousand  only  are  at  work,  which  leaves 
33,000  unaccounted  for,  the  very  lowest  estimate  of  the  number  neither 
in  school  nor  at  work. 

This  statement  is  further  borne  out  by  a  comparison  of  the  returns 
of  truant  officers  with  the  number  of  age  and  schooling  certificates 
granted.  In  1911-12  there  were  1,053  age  and  schooling  certificates 
granted  to  children  of  fourteen  for  mills  in  Fall  River,  for  which  we 
have  the  reports  of  truant  officers.  Now  in  these  same  mills  the  truant 
officers  report  only  547  children  from  fourteen  to  fifteen  years  of  age 
at  work.  That  can  mean  only  one  thing.  There  are  nearly  as  many 
children  of  fourteen  who  intended  to  work,  who  are  now  neither  in 
school  nor  at  work,  as  there  are  children  at  work.  It  cannot  be  sup- 
posed that  they  have  gone  into  other  trades,  for  the  cotton  mills  take 
83  per  cent,  of  all  the  young  people  at  work  in  Fall  River. 

The  question  might  be  raised,  "  Were  not  a  number  of  certificates 
granted  for  summer  employment  ?  "  The  mill  men  say  that  there  is 
very  little  if  any  summer  employment  on  account  of  the  excessive  heat, 
and  of  the  300  young  people  visited  who  had  taken  out  age  and  school- 
ing certificates  not  one  had  taken  it  out  for  summer  employment. 
Furthermore,  the  fact  that  54  per  cent,  take  out  age  and  schooling 
certificates  before  they  are  one  month  over  fourteen  does  not  indicate 
a  large  amount  of  summer  employment. 


33 


TABLE  I.  —  Showing  manufacturing  occupations  in  Massachusetts  em- 
ploying over  100  children  under  seventeen.  Comparison  of  years 
1904-09. 

Estimated  from  Massachusetts  Census,  1905,  Vol.  II.,  and  United  States  Census,  advance  sheet 

on  manufacturing. 


OCCUPATIONS. 

ESTIMATED  NUMBER 
OF  CHILDREN 

UNDER  SEVENTEEN. 

PER  CENT.  CHILDREN 
ARE  OF  THE 
TOTAL  NUMBER 
EMPLOYED   IN   EACH 
INDUSTRY. 

Male. 

Fe- 
male. 

Total 

Male. 

Fe- 
male. 

Total. 

[1904  

3,699 
4,652 
1,463 
2,130 

4,191 
4,869 
1,685 
2,762 

7,890 
9,521 
3,148 
4,892 

8.2 
8.2 
6.1 
6.8 

9.5 
10.1 
9.5 
12.9 

8.8 
9.1 
7.4 
9.2 

Cotton  mills,  \ 
[1909  

Woolen  and  worsted  (including  also  felt  1         ' 
goods  and  wool  hats).                                  1  JQQQ 

Boots  and  shoes  (including  cut  stock  and  f         ' 
findings).                                                         |1909> 

1,239 
2,939 

950 
2,064 

2,189 
5,003 

2.2 
5.1 

4.5 

7.4 

3.0 
5.6 

Iron  and  steel,  1904,        

386 

42 

428 

1.8 

6.6 

1.9 

Foundry  and  machine  shop,  1909,  .... 

875 

60 

935 

1.8 

8.1 

1.9 

[1904  
Confectionery,  \ 
(1909  

23 
68 

317 
866 

340 
934 

2.4 
4.0 

20.6 
20.9 

13.6 
14.5 

Hemp,  jute  and  flax,  linen,  rope  and  cordage,  1904, 

182 

340 

522 

7.4 

12.5 

10.1 

Cordage  and  twine,  jute  and  linen,  1909, 

399 

438 

837 

11.4 

15.3 

12.1 

Printers,  lithographers  and  pressmen,  1904,  . 

120 

50 

170 

1.3 

2.3 

1.5 

Printing  and  publishing,  1909,        .... 

606 

162 

768 

4.7 

3.3 

4.2 

Silkmill  operatives,  1904  

86 

236 

340 

8.5 

10.8 

10.1 

Silk  and  silk  goods,  including  throwsters,  1909,    . 

152 

554 

706 

11.8 

21.2 

16.2 

Hosiery  and  knitting  mill  operatives,  1904,  . 

83 

351 

434 

6.1 

7.3 

7.0 

Hosiery  and  knit  goods,  1909  
Carpet  factory,  1904,       

192 
224 
320 

489 
156 
230 

681 
380 
550 

4.5 
11.4 
10.1 

8.8 
8.3 
9.0 

6.6 
9.9 
9.1 

Carpets  and  rugs,  other  than  rag,  1909, 

Box-makers,  paper,  1904,        

50 

272 

322 

6.1 

7.2 

7.0 

Boxes,  fancy  and  paper,  1909  

63 

365 

428 

4.8 

13.9 

10.1 

Paper  goods  not  elsewhere  specified,  1909,     . 

117 

288 

405 

4.3 

11.4 

7.4 

[1904,          .... 
Paper  and  wood  pulp,  \ 
[1909,          .... 

134 
33 
146 
174 
98 
234 

225 
165 
137 
140 
23 
45 

359 
198 
283 
314 
121 
279 

1.9 
.4 
3.2 
3.4 
2.1 
3.8 

3.7 
3.7 
6.7 
4.9 
10.1 
4.0 

2.7 
1.5 
4.2 
3.8 
2.5 
3.9 

[1904  
Jewelry,  \ 
\1909  

11904 

1909  

Rubber  factory  operatives,  1904  
Rubber  boots  and  shoes   1909 

146 
198 

200 

78 

346 
276 

2.8 
4.5 

4.8 
2.7 

3.6 

3.7 

34 


TABLE  I.  — Showing  manufacturing  occupations  in  Massachusetts  em- 
ploying over  100  children  under  seventeen,  etc.  —  Con. 


OCCUPATIONS. 

ESTIMATED  NUMBER 
OF  CHILDREN 

UNDER  SEVENTEEN. 

PER  CENT.  CHILDREN 
ARE  OF  THE 
TOTAL  NUMBER 
EMPLOYED  IN   EACH 
INDUSTRY. 

Male. 

Fe- 
male. 

Total. 

Male. 

Fe- 
male. 

Total. 

Bakers,  1904  

51 

14 

65 

1.1 

5.9 

1.3 

Bread  and  other  bakery  products,  1909, 

117 

159 

276 

2.2 

12.1 

4.0 

Furnishing  goods,  men's,  1909,       .        . 

62 

206 

268 

4.0 

7.5 

6.0 

Seamstresses  and  tailors  and  tailoresses,  1904, 

64 

316 

•   380 

- 

- 

- 

Clothing,  men's,  including  shirts,  1909, 

39 

78 

117 

1.3 

1.6 

1.4 

Furniture,  1904,      

93 

14 

107 

2.3 

3.1 

2.4 

Furniture  and  refrigerators,  1909,  .... 

216 

48 

264 

3.1 

7.8 

3.4 

Electrical  machinery,  apparatus  and  supplies,  1909, 

171 

62 

233 

1.3 

1.8 

1.4 

Fancy  articles  not  elsewhere  specified,  1909, 

135 

87 

222 

4.9 

8.7 

5.7 

Electric  light  and  power  company  employees,  1904, 
Wire  workers,  1904  

77 
111 
56 

93 
56 

120 

170 
167 
176 

2.6 
2.1 
3.4 

6.8 
8.9 
18.9 

3.9 
2.8 
7.3 

Optical  goods,  1909,         

Musical  instruments,  pianos  and  organs  and  ma- 
terials, 1909. 

11904,                  

48 

9 
11 
132 

119 

89 
143 
24 

167 

98 
154 
156 

1.1 

10.5 
6.7 
1.6 

46.3 

7.3 
8.3 
7.9 

3.7 

7.5 
7.3 

1.8 

1909,         

Leather  curriers  and  tanners,  1904, 

Lumber  and  timber  products,  1909, 
Machinists,  1904  

120 
165 
134 
90 
96 
26 

8 

30 
29 
8 
71 

128 
165 
164 
119 
104 
97 

1.2 
.6 
6.2 
2.0 
4.6 
1.6 

2.5 

5.8 
5.6 
5.0 
3.6 

1.2 
.6 
6.1 

2.4 
4.5 

2.7 

Printworks,  1904  
Bleachery  and  dye  works,  1904  

Firearms  and  ammunition,  1909,    .... 

Bookbinders,  1904  

Totals  of  industries  employing  100  children  j         ' 
in  1904  or  1909.                                                [l909,i 

11904, 

9,031 
14,223 
1  199 

9,911 
14,613 
655 

18,942 
28,836 
1,854 
1,854 

3.5 
.6 

7.3 
1.7 

4.8 
.8 

1909,1  .... 

[1904  
Total  for  all  industries,  \ 
11909,1 

10,230 

10,566 

20,796 
30,690 

2.3 

6.1 

3.3 

Complete  numbers  are  not  given  for  all  the  industries  for  1909. 


35 


*+-^  "•*** 

0"    § 

J  J 
1'  S 

II 

^    *<s> 

>*<     r< 
«^     **^» 

?i 

s  I 

03       <•«. 
S     '§ 

s*"i 

11 

«j     O 

t{ 

§  ~*° 

"^       ^ 

S;      ^j 

f^. 

1  * 

il 

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1  § 
.?^ 

!ii 

PQ 

EH 

1 

1 

o 
o 

1 

o 

a 

^ 

a 

i 

2 

1 

t3 

TOTAL  NUMBER 
OF  CHILDREN 

14  TO  16  YEARS 
OF  AGE. 

-jooqos'pUB  a3B 
raoaj  pa^Buipsg; 

•  ss1    '    '   §  i    ' 

jBiaoujo    ^UBTUJL 

a  !  »8  1  1  I.  |  | 

CHILDREN  17 

YEARS 
OF  AGE. 

•gaiBoupaao  3ui 
-jooqoe'  puB  a3'y 

a    

W^x 

„  '  **»ais! 

CHILDREN  16 

YEARS 
OF  AGE. 

•Ba^Bonpaao  3m 
-jooqos  puB  a3y 

1^1            1           1         (M          1            1 

.siaogjo   ^UBOIJ, 

sssssgss 

** 

CHILDREN  15 

YEARS 
OF  AGE. 

•Ba^Bogt'jjao  3ui 
-jooqos'  puB  a3y 

S    SS     '      '      '     S«8     ' 

0        S        C^                                           <N»i-i 

.saaoujo  ^UBTUJ, 

OJiggSilsl 

CHILDREN  14 

YEARS 
OF  AGK. 

-{ooqos  puB  a3y 

.38    '    '    '•§!  ' 

W^S* 

..•••••II.I.I 

NUMBER  OF 

ESTABLISHMENTS 
REPORTING. 

•B^uauiqs^qB^ 
-sa  jo  aaquinu 

„  S  S  1  8  §  5  S  S 

•BJOUIUI  ^noq^i^v\ 

0        0       gj        0          I           I            1           1 

u> 

•sjouira  q^tAi 

^SSSSRSSS 

•3fjoM  ys  gi  jtapun 
uajp|iqo  ''in  -[OA  'S06I  sneuaQ 

.  |  5  S  «  |  M  S. 

•3[JOAi  ^B  8JB8^  gi  O^  QI 

uaapjiqo  '-j  -pA  'S061  snsuao 

„  g  5  §  S  1  I  |  1 

-ma    Qt    JOAO   jaquinu   IB^OJ, 

JHC^^SSeoScS 

' 



:••*"•*  1  .; 
"§  f  J  8  1      fc  S 

36 

A  comparison  of  the  figures  found  in  columns  2  and  3,  taken 
from  the  State  census  for  1905,  shows  that  in  the  cities  of  Lynn, 
Chelsea,  Haverhill,  Fall  River  and  New  Bedford  there  are  fewer 
children  at  work  under  sixteen  years  of  age  than  there  are  at 
work  under  fifteen  years  of  age,  which  is,  of  course,  impossible, 
as  the  figures  under  sixteen  must  include  those  fifteen  and 
under.  A  comparison  of  the  figures  found  in  columns  7,  8,  9 
and  10  for  the  cities  of  Holyoke,  Lynn,  Fall  River  and  New 
Bedford  seems  to  show  that  there  are  many  less  children  at 
work  than  there  are  children  who  are  holding  age  and  schooling 
certificates.  In  the  case  of  Holyoke,  only  about  half  as  many 
are  found  at  work  as  there  are  holding  age  and  schooling  cer- 
tificates, of  the  group  fourteen  years  old;  in  Fall  River,  one- 
third  as  many;  and  in  New  Bedford,  half  as  many.  In  the 
city  of  Holyoke,  the  -truant  officer's  returns  are  considered  abso- 
lutely accurate  and  reliable,  as  the  officer  personally  visited  all 
the  establishments  noted  in  the  records  as  employing  young 
people  leaving  school  at  fourteen. 


37 


APPENDIX  B. 


EXISTING  MEANS  FOR  FURNISHING  GENERAL  AND  VOCA- 
TIONAL EDUCATION  IN  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

1.    THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   THE  AGENCY  TOR   FURNISHING   GENERAL 

TRAINING. 

Yvre  turn  naturally  to  the  regular  public  school  for  the  solution  of 
every  new  problem  of  education  that  concerns  the  education  of  children 
and  youths.  Why  should  not  the  regular  public  school  undertake  the 
solution  of  this  problem  of  vocational  training?  In  the  established 
public  school  system  we  have  ready  to  hand  an  extensive  and  expensive 
plant,  an  effective  organization,  and  a  body  of  trained,  experienced  in- 
structors. Do  not  economy  and  efficiency  demand  that  the  provision 
of  necessary  vocational  training  be  committed  to  our  existing  plant 
and  organization,  to  our  picked  body  of  instructors,  enlarged  and  in- 
creased in  numbers  of  course,  to  meet  the  larger  task  imposed? 

Experience  now  proves  that  the  regular  public  schools  cannot  pro- 
vide requisite  and  adequate  vocational  training,  however  feasible  and 
desirable  this  may,  at  first  thought,  appear.  The  public  school  cannot 
do  this  successfully  for  two  reasons:  first,  because  the  public  school 
has  measurably  failed,  in  giving  efficient  general  education  to  many  of 
the  very  boys  and  girls  whom  it  is  now  proposed  that  the  school  train 
vocationally;  and  second,  because  it  would  be  practically  impossible  to 
adapt  the  existing  school  organization  and  body  of  instructors  to  the 
requirements  of  the  new  problem. 

The  statement  of  the  obvious  fact  that  the  existing  public  school  has 
failed  to  give  the  most  effective  education  to  boys  and  girls  in  im- 
mediate and  most  urgent  need  of  vocational  training  must  not  be 
construed  as  equivalent  to  an  assertion  that  the  public  school  as  an 
institution  is  a  failure.  On  the  contrary,  the  universal  and  overwhelm- 
ing evidence  of  the  positive  achievements  of  the  public  school,  no  less 
obvious  than  its  failures,  entitles  it  to  rank  as  the  most  effective  insti- 
tution of  enlightenment  and  civilization  yet  established.  The  existing 
public  school  was  not  intended  to  provide  vocational  training  in  the 
sense  in  which  such  training  is  now  rightly  demanded.  The  typical 
school  plant  has  always  been  designed,  the  organization  worked  out,  the 
teaching  force  selected,  for  the  purpose  of  providing  literary  and  gen- 
eral training.  This  purpose  the  public  school  fulfills,  on  the  whole, 


38 

with  success,  even  in  the  case  of  those  boys  and  girls  who  go  out  incom- 
pletely educated,  — at  least  from  the  standpoint  of  vocational  training; 
for,  when  due  consideration  is  given  to  the  handicaps  of  various  kinds 
and  degrees  under  which  the  school  has  labored,  it  must  be  acknowl- 
edged that  the  school  has  done  well  what  it  undertook  to  do. 

Why  cannot  the  regular  school  be  adapted  to  meet  this  new  prob- 
lem, and,  indeed,  at  least  partially  to  anticipate  it,  through  modified 
studies  and  methods  of  instruction  introduced  before  the  pupils  who 
are  to  need  vocational  training  reach  fourteen  years  of  age?  Theo- 
retically, this  is  possible.  Indeed,  the  early  anticipation  of  the  needs 
of  that  type  of  boy  or  girl  who  enters  the  industries  as  soon  as  the 
law  allows  may  well  be  taken  as  one  of  the  practical  ideals  toward 
which  the  regular  school  should  strive.  But  the  problem  immediately 
before  us,  —  a  problem  that  is  not  likely  to  be  materially  changed  for 
many  years,  however  successfully  the  regular  school  may  modify  its 
present  work  for  that  type  of  pupil  under  consideration,  —  the  prob- 
lem of  giving  definite  and  immediately  efficient  vocational  training  to 
boys  and  girls  of  fourteen,  is  radically  different  from  the  problem  that 
the  regular  school  is  solving;  it  demands  new  and  quite  different  or- 
ganization, equipment,  subject-matter  and  methods  of  instruction,  and, 
most  of  all,  types  of  instructors.  To  compel  the  regular  public  school 
to  undertake  the  solution  of  this  new  problem  would  be  greatly  to 
impair  its  efficiency  in  the  kind  of  work  that  it  has  long  carried  on. 

But  an  organization,  plant  and  equipment  especially  designed  to 
serve  in  vocational  education,  and  a  corps  of  instructors  especially 
chosen  with  a  view  to  administer  such  training,  will  in  time  react  most 
favorably  on  the  regular  public  school,  .and  each  type  of  education  will 
reinforce  the  other. 


2.    THE  DEVELOPMENT  AND  PLACE  OF  THE  VOCATIONAL  SCHOOL. 

The  report  of  the  Douglas  commission  made  in  1906,  called  attention 
in  a  forceful  way  to  the  fact  that  there  was  a  great  army  of  boys  and 
girls  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  sixteen,  over  25,000  in  number,1 
employed  in  the  industries  who  had  gone  out  from  the  public  schools 
unprepared  for  their  work,  and  whose  need  of  further  training  had 
been  entirely  ignored  by  our  educational  system.  Massachusetts  then 
for  the  first  time  manifested  in  an  official  way  an  interest  in  the  prac- 
tical education  of  the  adolescent  for  wage  earning.  Local  communities 
were  encouraged  to  establish  vocational  schools  by  the  passage  of  a 
State  law  providing  that  where  cities  or  towns  furnish  the  building 
and  equipment  for  such  schools  the  State  will  bear  one  half  the  ex- 
pense of  maintenance.  The  law,  with  subsequent  amendments,  is  still 
the  same  in  spirit,  and  under  its  provisions  35  different  cities  and 

1  The  Douglas  commission  investigated  the  condition  of  workers  between  fourteen  and  sixteen 
years  of  age;  this  investigation  has  dealt  with  those  between  fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age. 


39 

towns  have  established  some  form  of  State-aided  vocational  school. 
Eleven  have  all-day  schools,  giving  nine  different  lines  of  training  for 
boys  and  four  for  girls ;  3  have  part-time  schools ;  and  35  have  evening 
courses. 

These  schools  must  be  regarded  as  way  marks  or  milestones  along 
the  road  by  which  the  Commonwealth  hopes  finally  to  reach  the  goal 
of  effective  training  for  all  boys  and  girls  who  go  out  to  work  at  the 
age  of  fourteen.  They  have  already  contributed  much  to  the  solution 
of  the  problem  of  adjusting  our  education  to  new  conditions  in  that 
they  have  demonstrated  the  value  of  vocational  education,  and  have 
established  beyond  question  the  possibility  of  giving  in  a  school  train- 
ing which  is  of  value  to  the  worker  in  the  shop.  They  have,  however, 
dealt  with  less  than  1,500  in  day  schools,  less  than  300 *  in  part-time 
schools  and  only  6,000  in  evening  courses.  The  failure  of  the  day 
school  to  enroll  large  numbers  of  pupils  can  be  attributed  to  at  least 
three  causes.  Usually  when  parents  are  first  approached  on  the  sub- 
ject their  attitude  toward  sending  their  children  to  such  a  school  is 
favorable,  and  they  honestly  intend  to  do  so,  but  when  the  children 
have  actually  left  school  and  are  already  at  work,  it  is. found  to  be 
next  to  impossible  to  induce  them  or  their  parents  to  forego  the  full 
wage  for  the  sake  of  a  training  whose  value  has  yet  to  be  proven  to 
them.  The  lack  of  co-operation  between  the  regular  public  and  the 
vocational  schools  has  kept  many  of  those  who  have  not  yet  left  the 
regular  school  in  ignorance  of  the  existence  of  an  institution  which 
provides  vocational  training.  To  this  same  lack  of  co-operation  and 
sympathy  is  due  the  fact  that  not  infrequently  the  knowledge  of  such 
a  school  is  brought  to  the  attention  of  pupils  in  the  form  of  a  threat 
that  they  will  be  sent  to  it  as  they  would  to  a  corrective  institution. 
In  many  cases  these  schools  are  lacking  in  facilities  to  care  for  all  who 
apply  for  admission. 

The  largest  contribution  which  the  vocational  school  has  made  in 
helping  to  solve  this  problem  is  in  developing  methods  of  teaching  the 
type  of  boy  and  girl  under  consideration.  It  has  demonstrated  that 
the  children  who  do  not  remain  in  the  regular  schools  are  capable  of 
being  educated,  and  that  it  is  possible  to  organize  and  conduct  classes 
in  such  a  way  that  those  with  a  practical  turn  of  mind  can  be  taught 
the  same  things  which  they  fail  to  grasp  in  the  regular  schools.  While 
the  common  problem  of  all  teaching,  that  of  exciting  the  interest  of  the 
pupil  and  impressing  upon  him  the  value  of  right  training,  is  ever 
present  in  this  new  form  of  school,  the  teachers  have  not  been  hampered 
by  the  traditions  of  generations,  and  have  been  able  to  use  the  pupil's 
daily  experience  in  the  home,  in  the  shop,  on  the  farm  or  on  the  street 
as  a  basis  for  teaching,  and  to  illustrate  the  common  every-day  prob- 
lems of  life. 

1  This  number  includes  131  boys  in  the  Fitchburg  part-time  school  who  are  of  high-school 
grade. 


40 

To  do  this  successfully,  a  new  type  of  teacher  is  absolutely  essen- 
tial.1 While  these  schools  have  been  established  barely  three  years, 
they  have  accomplished  something  in  the  line  of  contribution  to  the 
problem  of  developing  the  type  of  teachers  and  directors  needed.  In 
future,  directors  or  principals  of  vocational  schools  should  be  selected 
partly  because  of  their  ability  to  train  and  develop  teachers,  and  each 
person  taken  to  train  should  be  chosen  with  the  thought  in  mind  that 
he  will,  perhaps,  ultimately  become  a  principal  or  director.  To  a  very 
great  extent  the  all-day  vocational  school  must  continue  to  serve  as  a 
training  center,  not  only  for  its  own  teachers,  but  for  teachers  in 
other  schools  as  yet  not  established,  and  for  teachers  of  part-time  and 
evening  courses,  particularly  the  former.  Evening  classes  deal  with 
the  more  mature  men  and  women,  but  the  work  developed  in  them 
has  made  a  very  important  contribution  to  the  solution  of  the  problem 
under  discussion. 

Starting  work  in  a  new  line  or  industry  with  men  and  women  in 
evening  classes  has  been  found  very  much  easier  because  they  are 
already  employed,  and  need  the  supplementary  instruction  which  will 
aid  them  in  taking  the  next  step  forward  in  their  work.  In  giving 
this  instruction  we  learn  what  should  be  taught,  and  frequently  discover 
men  and  women  in  the  trade  who  are  respected  by  their  fellows  for 
their  greater  knowledge  of  the  business,  and  who  are  often  capable 
of  being  trained  for  teaching  in  day  schools. 

It  has  been  apparent  from  the  beginning  of  this  study  that  the  con- 
ditions shown  to  be  true  by  the  Douglas  commission  have  remained 
practically  unchanged  in  the  last  six  years.  This  commission  believed 
that  the  regular  day  schools  could  not  deal  with  the  situation,  and 
suggested  the  organization  of  vocational  schools,  with  the  hope  that 
they  would  remedy  the  difficulty.  The  experience  of  Massachusetts 
shows  that  the  all-day  vocational  school  reaches  as  yet  but  a  small  per- 
centage of  the  children  who  drop  out  of  the  public  school  at  fourteen 
years  of  age.  It  is  clear  that  a  system  of  training  which  is  to  reach 
40,000  or  more  boys  and  girls  must  allow  many  of  them  to  work  and  to 
attend  school  at  the  same  time. 

By  those  engaged  in  the  work,  the  value  of  these  schools  has  been 
measured  largely  on  the  basis  of  the  contribution  which  they  are 
making  toward  the  solution  of  this  problem  which  the  State  has  been 
moving  toward  and  must  ultimately  reach.  The  belief  that  part-time 
schooling  is  to  be  the  means  whereby  most  of  this  needed  training  shall 
be  given,  and  that  the  time  is  ripe  for  a  more  vigorous  effort  to  secure 
it,  led  to  the  passage  of  the  resolve  calling  for  this  report,  the  greatest 
aim  and  hope  of  which  is  to  reemphasize  the  need  of  reaching  the 
wage  earner  through  schools  operated  in  co-operation  with  industry, 
and  to.  point  out  some  practical  ways  and  means  which  seem  to  promise 
the  greatest  results  in  this  effort. 

1  See  Appendix  E,  p.  99. 


41 


3.  OTHER  EXISTING  AGENCIES  FOR  FURNISHING  VOCATIONAL  EDUCATION. 
The  other  existing  agencies  which  furnish-  vocational  training  reach 
less  than  500  of  the  group  at  which  this  study  has  been  primarily 
directed.  These  institutions  may  be  divided  into  the  five  following 
classes:  profit-making  institutions,  apprenticeship,  corporation  schools, 
philanthropic  or  semipublic  schools  and  public  vocational  schools. 

1.  Schools  which  are  operated  for  profit,  such  as  correspondence  and 
private  trade  schools,  register  not  less  than  4,500  whose  average  age  is 
above  twenty-three.1 

2.  Apprenticeship  is  not  now  an  efficient  agency  of  vocational  edu- 
cation, but  as  is  pointed  out  under  a  discussion  of  apprenticeship  on 
pages  84  to  87,  Appendix  D,  it  can  probably  be  reorganized,  at  least 
in  certain  industries,  and  made  to  contribute  its  share  to  the  solution 
of  the  problem  of  vocational  education. 

3.  Corporation  schools  are  few  in  number.    There  are  but  two  schools 
of  this  class  in  Massachusetts,  and  they  reach  about  one  half  of  one 
per  cent,   of  those   employed  under  seventeen  years   of  age.     While 
these  schools  fill  a  need  in  large  manufacturing  plants,  they  are  not 
capable  of  extension  for  the  purposes  of  public  instruction.    The  two 
schools  which  exist  take  very  few  under  fifteen  years  of  age,  almost 
one  half  of  their  pupils  being  over  seventeen  years  of  age.    Of  a  total  of 
427  attending,  only  35  are  from  fourteen  to  fifteen,  91  from  fifteen  to 
sixteen  and  101  from  sixteen  to  seventeen,  while  200  are  over  seventeen 
years  of  age. 

4.  Philanthropic  or  semipublic  schools  giving  instruction  at  cost  or 
less  than  cost  are  training  270  persons  for  entrance  to  industry  in 
full-time  day  schools,  and  in  evening  courses,  2,652,  or  less  than  one 
half  of  one  per  cent,  of  the  total  group  of  585,559  adult  workers  in 
Massachusetts.     Such  institutions  are  not  capable  of  being  developed 
to  reach  more  than  a  few  at  the  best,  but  they  should  continue  to  deal 
with  the  particular  group  which  is  now  attending  them.     With  the 
exception,  perhaps,  of  the  work  in  salesmanship,  started  in  1906  by 
the  Women's  Educational  and  Industrial  Union,  it  is  doubtful  if  there 
is  any  work  being  conducted  in  these  schools  with  which  the  public 
vocational  schools  are  not  prepared  to  deal.     The  methods  developed 
in  the  Women's  Educational  and  Industrial  Union  School  for  salesman- 
ship can  be  adapted  to  the  regular  public  schools,  and  this  institution 
can  teach  us  much  which  is  of  value  in  making  instruction  efficient. 
The  principles  developed  along  the  line  of  selling  can  be  extended  to 
the  other  departments  of  the  store  and  to  mercantile  business  in  gen- 
eral.   This  phase  of  the  problem  is  dealt  with  in  detail  in  Appendix  J. 

5.  Three  textile  schools  which  are  partly  supported  by  the  State  and 
are  free   public  vocational   schools,  with   day,   evening  and   part-time 

1  With  the  exception  of  the  private  trade  schools  in  relation  to  the  shoe  industry,  these  schools 
were  not  studied  in  detail.    See  Appendix  D,  p.  87. 


42 

courses,  reach  mainly  adult  workers.  The  day  courses  in  the  textile 
schools  are  designed  to  be  of  college  grade.  They  have  varying  condi- 
tions for  entrance,  but  the  chief  requirement  is  high-school  graduation. 
The  larger  part  of  the  work  of  these  schools,  however,  is  done  through 
evening  courses,  in  which  instruction  was  given  to  2,386  adult  workers 
for  the  textile  business  in  1911-12.  In  New  Bedford  and  Fall  River 
the  plants  might  be  made  available  also  for  all-day  and  part-time 
courses  for  boys  and  girls  who  are  obliged  to  enter  industry  at  the  age 
of  fourteen,  no  matter  what  grade  they  may  have  completed  before 
leaving  the  elementary  school. 

Through  evening  instruction  the  vocational  schools  reach  5,057  adult 
workers,  or  less  than  one  per  cent,  of  all  those  employed  in  the  State; 
1,265  are  being  prepared  in  all-day  courses  for  entrance  to  industry, 
and  only  263  of  the  40,000  who  have  already  entered  industry  are  re- 
ceiving part-time  instruction.  Thus  the  larger  part  of  the  work  done 
by  existing  public  and  semipublic  institutions  is  in  the  instruction  of 
mature  workers  in  evening  classes.  It  has  been  found  that  night  schools 
cannot  teach  young  people  under  seventeen  or  eighteen  years  of  age, 
especially  if  they  are  in  classes  with  older  workers,  without  detriment 
to  the  instruction  of  both  groups  and  an  undue  physical  strain  in  the 
case  of  the  younger  workers.  These  classes  should  be  continued  for  the 
older  workers  whom  they  are  intended  to  serve,  and  should  be  developed 
in  the  cities  and  towns  where  they  are  now  established  and  extended  to 
those  communities  where  they  have  not  been  started. 

The  two  remaining  agencies,  the  all-day  vocational  school  and  the 
part-time  school,  are  the  smallest,  both  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
number  of  schools  and  the  number  of  pupils,  but  they  offer  the  largest 
hope  for  the  solution  of  the  problem.  Four  years  of  experience  have 
shown  that  the  all-day  vocational  school,  taking  pupils  after  the  com- 
pulsory age,  can  at  best  reach  only  a  small  portion  of  the  young  people 
before  they  enter  industry.  The  Douglas  commission  believed  that  if 
these  schools  were  established,  80  per  cent,  of  the  children  leaving 
school  and  going  to  work  would  profit  by  their  instruction.  Four 
years  of  experience  seem  to  show  that  they  can  add  less  than  10  per 
cent,  to  the  group  which  can  be  reached  on  an  all-day  basis.  The  all- 
day  schools  have  been  established  in  only  11  of  the  354  cities  and  towns 
in  the  State,  but  they  have  demonstrated  wherever  they  have  been 
established  that  they  can  hold  children  who  would  otherwise  leave  school, 
that  these  children  can  be  educated,  that  they  are  worth  educating, 
though  the  other  public  schools  have  failed  to  reach  them,  and  that 
they  can  give  a  training  which  enables  their  students  to  secure  a  more 
favorable  entrance  into  trade  and  industry.  There  is  no  evidence  to 
show  that  the  other  343  cities  and  towns  which  have  not  established 
these  schools  do  not  in  many  cases  also  need  them  to  meet  the  require- 
ments of  their  children  and  their  industries;  in  fact,  evidence  enough 
has  been  collected  during  this  investigation  to  show  that  they  are 


43 

needed  in  every  city  studied  where  they  do  not  now  exist.  It  is  firmly 
believed  that  these  schools  must  be  made  the  basis  for  dealing  with 
the  whole  group  not  reached  by  the  regular  public  schools.  Each  should 
form  the  nucleus  of  an  institution  to  be  so  organized  that  it  will  give 
all  kinds  of  needed  instruction,  whether  part-time  day,  full-time  day  or 
evening  school  training  to  any  individual  in  any  trade  or  occupation.1 
The  day  vocational  school  should  be  founded  first  to  deal  with  the 
smaller  selected  group,  to  develop  courses  of  study  and  methods  of  in- 
struction, and  to  train  teachers  and  directors.  It  should  establish  itself 
firmly  in  the  community  by  co-operating  with  the  regular  elementary 
schools,  and  by  reaching  out,  on  a  part-time  co-operative  basis  with  the 
industries,  for  the  instruction  of  every  boy  and  girl  between  the  ages  of 
fourteen  and  seventeen  in  day  courses,  and  it  should  aim  to  hold  them, 
from  seventeen  on,  in  evening  courses.  The  failure  of  the  vast  majority 
of  cities  and  towns  in  this  State  to  start  these  schools  is  due  to  at  least 
three  causes,  —  the  inability  of  some  communities  to  raise  enough  money 
to  support  them,  the  adherence  to  traditional  forms  of  education  as 
the  only  thing  worth  while  and  the  feeling  that  those  who  will  not 
take  it  in  the  form  in  which  it  is  now  given  are  not  worth  educating, 
and  lastly,  to  the  inability  of  the  majority  of  this  class  of  people  to 
know  their  needs  and  to  make  them  known  in  an  effective  way. 

To  make  it  practicable  to  develop  part-time  vocational  courses  on  an 
efficient  basis,  vocational  schools  will  have  to  be  established  in  all  com- 
munities where  they  are  not  now  operated.  In  some  places  it  may  be 
necessary  to  allow  by  law  the  levying  of  a  special  tax  above  the  present 
tax  limit,  such  money  to  be  used  exclusively  for  the  building,  equipping 
and  maintaining  of  these  schools.  They  should  continue  to  furnish  all- 
day  instruction  in  the  different  lines  now  taught  for  boys  and  girls,  and 
should  add  to  this  part-time  courses  in  these  and  any  other  lines  needed 
in  the  community  for  the  boys  and  girls  who  are  not  fortunate  enough 
to  be  able  to  attend  the  all-day  school.  These  schools  must  continue 
to  make  clear  to  the  general  public,  especially  to  the  public  school 
teachers,  the  value  of  industrial  education,  and  remove  from  it  the 
stigma  which  has  connected  these  schools  with  the  State's  corrective 
institutions  for  delinquents.  So  long  as  such  head  lines  as  the  follow- 
ing appear  in  connection  with  the  State's  training  schools  for  bad 
boys  and  girls,  parents  will  not  send  their  children  to  schools  which 
bear  the  name  "industrial."  "Youths  taught  to  make  their  own  liv- 
ings. Prison  atmosphere  eliminated  so  far  as  possible  at  Industrial 
School  at  Shirley;  each  inmate  learns  a  useful  trade."  Before  this 
institution  can  be  made  to  furnish  industrial  training,  the  name  of  the 
State-aided  schools  operated  under  chapter  471,  Acts  of  1911,  should 
be  changed  by  substituting  some  such  words  as  "  State-aided  Vocational 
Schools,"  and  be  hereafter  known  under  this  name. 

i  See  Appendix  F,  p.  124. 


44 


APPENDIX  C . 


PREVIOUS  EDUCATION  AND  PRESENT  INDUSTRIAL  STATUS 
OF  SELECTED  GROUPS  OF  WORKERS. 

I.    COMPARISON  OP  GROUPS  STUDIED. 

In  order  to  determine  how  much  education  is  acquired  by  young 
people  who  leave  school  at  fourteen  years  of  age  to  enter  industry, 
and  what  their  success  in  this  field  has  been,  various  groups,  totaling 
1,875  individuals,  were  selected  to  represent  the  whole  group  between 
the  ages  of  fourteen  and  seventeen  employed  in  Massachusetts.  These 
young  workers  were  studied  by  special  agents  who  visited  and  talked 
with  them  in  the  home,  on  the  street  and  in  the  factory. 

A  group  of  690  who  left  school  at  about  fourteen  years  of  age  a 
year  previous  to  the  time  of  the  investigation  was  studied  in  the  home, 
the  names  being  selected  at  random  from  the  list  of  those  to  whom  age 
and  schooling  certificates  had  been  granted.1  The  object  of  this  study 
was  to  determine  what  their  success  in  school  had  been,  the  number  of 
years  they  had  attended,  the  grade  reached  and  their  experience  during 
the  first  year  of  industrial  life. 

Another  group  of  433  who  had  left  school  six  years  before  was 
studied  in  the  same  way.  These  young  people  were  about  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  and  had  had  practically  the  same  school  training,  but  five 
years'  more  experience  in  the  industrial  world.  The  success  of  this 
group  was  compared  with  that  of  those  who  had  been  at  work  one  year. 

A  group  of  302  boys  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  eighteen  who 
were  found  unemployed  on  the  streets  of  Fall  River  and  Lowell  was 
studied  to  determine  why  they  were  not  in  school  or  at  work,  their 
school  history  and  their  industrial  experience. 

Still  another  group  of  450  apprentices,  taking  part-time  or  con- 
tinuation school  work  for  five  hours  each  week  in  the  city  of  Cincin- 
nati, was  studied,  primarily  to  compare  the  kind  of  work  done  by 
these  young  men  working  in  factories  in  which  the  management  is 
making  a  very  determined  effort  to  maintain  apprenticeship,  with  that 
done  by  young  people  in  Massachusetts  where  no  special  effort  is  made 
to  maintain  such  a  system. 

In  order  to  compare  the  young  workers  as  to  education,  their  present 
positions  and  probable  future  with  the  average  man  and  woman  in 

1  These  cases  were  selected  at  random  as  it  was  thought  a  more  representative  group  would 
be  obtained  in  this  way.  See  Thorndike  "  Mental  and  Social  Measurements." 


45 


the  different   industries,   2,462  mature  workers  were  studied,   as   fol- 
lows :  — 

A  group  of  88  men  in  the  machine  industry. 

A  group  of  1,307  men  and  women  in  the  textile  industry. 

A  group  of  551  men  and  women  in  the  boot  and  shoe  industry. 

A  group  of  70  women  in  the  confectionery  industry. 

A  group  of  256  women  in  department  stores. 

A  group  of  190  men  and  women  in  the  printing  and  publishing  business. 

The  1,875  cases  of  young  workers  under  twenty-one  years  of  age  in 
the  various  industries  in  different  cities  and  towns  may  be  assumed  to 
be  fairly  typical  of  the  whole  40,000  between  the  ages  of  fourteen 
and  seventeen  which  it  is  estimated  are  employed  in  industry  in  Massa- 
chusetts.1 Of  these,  71  per  cent,  left  school  at  fourteen  years  of  age, 
23  per  cent,  at  fifteen  years  of  age,  while  but  4  per  cent,  attended 
school  until  they  were  sixteen  years  of  age.  Only  3.9  per  cent,  went 
beyond  the  elementary  schools,  while  28.1  per  cent,  did  not  pass  be- 
yond the  fifth  grade.  It  appears,  therefore,  that  from  one  fourth  to 
one  third  went  hardly  more  than  half  way  through  the  elementary 
school;  nearly  two  thirds  left  before  entering  the  eighth  grade. 
Seventy-nine  per  cent,  were  one  or  more  years  behind  the  classes  in 
which  they  started,  so  that  only  21  per  cent.,  or  a  little  more  than  one 
fifth,  were  as  far  advanced  at  the  time  of  leaving  as  an  ideal  scheme 
would  contemplate. 

The  following  is  a  tabulation  of  the  results  of  a  study  of  153  unem- 
ployed boys  on  the  streets  of  Fall  River : 3  — 

TABLE  I.  —  Showing  number  and  percentage  of  153  unemployed  boys  in 
Fall  Biver  who  left  school  between  ten  and  nineteen  years  of  age. 


AGE  AT  WHICH  BOYS  LEFT  SCHOOL. 

Number  who 
left  school. 

Per  cent. 

10  years,      

13  years, 

13 

.6 
8  5 

14  years, 

115 

75  2 

15  years  

16  years, 

16 
5 

10.4 
3  2 

17  years,      
18  years,       

2 
1 

1.3 
.6 

Total,    

153 

99.8 

1  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  at  least  2  per  cent,  left  earlier  than  the  compulsory  attendance 
law  of  Massachusetts  permits.    These  either  went  to  work  illegally  or  remained  at  home.    The 
actual  number  of  those  unlawfully  employed  may  be  even  larger  than  the  figures  in  the  tables 
hereafter  given  would  indicate,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  investigators  had  reason  to  believe  that 
some  of  the  children  questioned  were  shrewd  enough  to  overstate  their  ages.    In  the  case  of  the 
boys  who  were  studied  on  the  street,  it  is  probable  that  the  truth  was  told  in  most  cases,  inasmuch 
as  the  investigators  were  men  who  could  procure  the  confidence  of  those  boys. 

2  In  addition  to  these  153  boys,  47  others  were  found,  12  of  whom  had  never  attended  school  in 
this  country,  while  35  were  still  in  school. 


46 

The  above  table  shows  that  9.1  per  cent,  of  the  group  left  school 
before  reaching  the  age  of  fourteen,  and  that  84.3  per  cent,  left  either 
before  or  as  soon  as  the  law  allows.  This  study  revealed  a  larger 
percentage  who  left  school  before  fourteen  years  of  age  than  was 
found  in  the  study  of  any  other  selected  group.  Table  XIV,  page  57, 
shows  a  similar  result  from  the  study  of  149  cases  in  Lowell.  Eighty- 
six  and  five  tenths  per  cent,  left  at  fourteen  or  before,  but  only  2.7 
per  cent,  left  before  they  were  fourteen. 

Comparison  of  the  foregoing  may  be  made  with  the  following  sum- 
mary of  a  study  of  selected  groups  in  the  candy,  boot  and  shoe  and 
textile  industries,  the  names  of  the  workers  having  been  chosen  from 
the  records  of  age  and  schooling  certificates  granted  one  and  six  years 
previous  to  the  investigation :  — 

TABLE  II.  —  Showing  percentage  which  left  school  between  thirteen  and 
eighteen  years  to  enter  various  industries,  with  weighted  average 
for  whole  group 1  (1,573  cases).2 


Candy 

Shoe 

Textile 

Total 

AGE  ON  LEAVING  SCHOOL. 

industry  (per 
cent.). 

industry  (per 
cent.). 

industry  (per 
cent.). 

group  (per 
cent.).* 

13  years  

8 

2 

2 

2 

14  years,        

61 

56 

79 

71 

15  years,       

24 

36 

16 

23 

16  years,        

6 

5 

3 

4 

17  years,        

1 

1 

- 

3 

1  See  Table  IV,  p.  102  of  Douglas  report,  1906,  on  "Industrial  and  Technical  Education." 

2  This  number  does  not  include  the  302  unemployed    boys  interviewed  in  Lowell  and  Fall 
River. 

1  In  order  to  compare  fairly  these  industries  which  vary  widely  in  numbers  employed  a 
"  weighted  average "  was  used,  the  weighting  being  based  on  the  total  number  employed  in 
each  industry. 

"A  weighted  average  is  one  whose  constituent  items  have  been  multiplied  by  certain  weights 
before  being  added,  the  sum  thus  obtained  being  divided  by  the  sum  of  the  weights  instead  of 
by  the  number  of  items."  — King,  "Elements  of  Statistical  Method." 


The  above  table  shows  a  more  nearly  normal  group,  71  per  cent,  leav- 
ing at  fourteen,  while  only  2  per  cent,  left  earlier. 

Table  III  shows  the  grade  last  attended  by  the  153  unemployed  boys 
interviewed  on  the  streets  of  Fall  River. 


47 


TABLE  III.  —  Showing  grade  last  attended  by  153  unemployed  boys  in 
Fall  River  before  leaving  school. 


GRADE  LEFT. 

Number 
leaving. 

Per  cent. 

First,                                      

j 

6 

Second,        ........... 

3 

1.9 

Third 

9 

5  8 

Fourth,                                           .         

22 

14  3 

Fifth  
Sixth 

11 
22 

7.2 
14  3 

Seventh,                                         .                 

34 

22  2 

Eighth,        
Ninth,         
High  school  first  year,        

21 
23 

7 

13.7 
15.0 
4.5 

Total,    .                         .                                         .  '      . 

153 

99  5 

The  table  shows  that  two  thirds  of  these  boys  left  school  before  com- 
pleting the  seventh  grade;  one  third  went  beyond  the  seventh  grade. 

The  following  table  shows  the  percentage  which  left  each  grade  to 
enter  the  candy,  shoe  and  textile  industries :  — 

TABLE  IV.  —  Showing  percentage  which  left  each  grade  to  enter  vari- 
ous industries,  with  weighted  average  for  whole  group  *  (1,573 
cases}. 


GRADE  LEFT. 

Candy 
industry  (per 
cent.). 

Shoe 
industry  (per 
cent.). 

Textile 
industry  (per 
cent.). 

Total 
group  (per 
cent.).* 

Second,          

1.1 

- 

.9 

.6 

Third  

1.1 

2.7 

2.1 

2.2 

Fourth  

10.4 

2.2 

16.1 

11.4 

Fifth  

7.3 

4.0 

19.2 

13.9 

Sixth  

16.7 

14.2 

16.1 

15.5 

Seventh,        

16.7 

21.4 

21.9  ' 

21.4 

Eighth,          

24.1 

21.1 

12.7 

15.8 

Ninth  

21.3 

26.1 

9.2 

15.2 

High  school,  first  year, 

1.8 

5.7 

.9 

2.6 

High  school,  second  year,    . 

- 

2.6 

.7 

1.3 

Total  

100 

100 

99.8 

99.9 

*  See  also  Table  V,  p.  103  of  the  Douglas  report,  1906,  on  "Industrial  and  Technical  Educa- 
tion." 

2  Averages  weighted  in  proportion  to  the  numbers  employed  in  each  industry. 


48 


The  above  table  shows  that  the  largest  percentage  left  the  seventh 
grade,  or  approximately  at  fourteen  years  of  age,  while  43.6  per  cent, 
left  before  the  seventh  grade. 

Table  V  shows  the  length  of  the  period  of  retardation,  together  with 
the  percentage  of  those  so  retarded  in  school,  before  entering  the  candy, 
shoe  and  textile  industries. 

TABLE  V.  —  Showing  length  of  period  of  retardation  and  percentage 
of  those  so  retarded  entering  different  industries,  with  weighted 
average  for  whole  group  (1,573  cases). 


Candy 

Shoe 

Textile 

Total 

PERIOD  OP  RETARDATION. 

industry  (per 

industry  (per 

industry  (per 

group  (per 

cent.). 

cent.). 

cent.). 

cent.),  i 

Ahead  of  or  even  with  grade, 

12.8 

28.1 

18.3 

21 

One  year  behind, 

25.8 

27.3 

16.8 

21 

Two  years  behind, 

19.2 

15.9 

19.6 

19 

Three  years  behind,     . 

21.4 

19.8 

22.0 

21 

Four  years  behind, 

8.6 

6.3 

13.8 

11 

Five  years  behind, 

8.6 

1.7 

8.4 

6 

Six  years  behind, 

3.1 

1.3 

1.0 

1 

1  A  weighted  average  of  these  three  industries. 

The  above  table  seems  to  show  that  as  a  group  those  who  enter  the 
textile  industry  have  made  less  progress  in  the  grades  and  are  more 
retarded  than  those  entering  any  of  the  other  industries  studied.  Candy 
making  comes  next,  while  those  entering  the  boot  and  shoe  industry 
remain  in  school  longer  and  have  progressed  farther  in  the  grades  than 
those  in  the  other  groups.  There  are  many  laggards  or  retarded  chil- 
dren entering  the  shoe  business,  but  nothing  like  the  number  in  the 
textile  and  candy  industries.  Of  the  children  who. were  retarded  or 
behind  the  grade  in  which  they  should  have  been  for  the  number  of 
years  in  attendance  in  school,  9.3  per  cent,  of  the  shoe  workers  were 
retarded  four  or  more  years,  while  20.3  per  cent,  of  the  candy  workers 
and  23.2  per  cent,  of  those  entering  the  textile  industry  were  so  re- 
tarded. Nearly  one  fourth  of  the  young  textile  workers  and  more 
than  one  fifth  of  the  candy  workers  were  four  or  more  years  behind 
the  class  with  which  they  started. 

Following  is  a  table  which  shows  the  wage  earned  by  those  employed 
in  various  lines  of  work  for  one  year,  together  with  the  percentage 
earning  a  given  salary. 


49 


TABLE  VI.  —  Showing  percentage  of  those  employed  in  different  lines 
earning  a  given  wage,  with  weighted  average  for  whole  group  of 
those  out  of  school  one  year1  (440  cases). 


WAGE. 

Candy 
industry 
(under  18 
years) 
(percent.).2 

Shoe 
industry 
(per  cent.). 

Textile 
industry 
(per  cent.). 

Salesman- 
ship (under 
18  years, 
girls) 
(percent.). 

Total 
group  (per 
cent.).' 

13  to  $3.99,   .... 

36 

13 

3 

66 

20 

$4  to  $4.99  

43 

18 

7 

22 

14 

$5  to  $5.99  

14 

24 

4 

8 

10 

$6  to  $6.99  

6 

17 

30 

2 

20 

$7  to  $7.99,   .... 

1 

15 

18 

1 

13 

$8  to  $8.99  

- 

5 

17 

1 

10 

$9  to  $9.99,   .... 

- 

5 

13 

- 

7 

$10  to  $10.99, 

- 

2 

4 

- 

3 

$11  to  $11.99, 

- 

- 

3 

- 

2 

$12  to  $12.99, 

- 

1 

- 

- 

- 

$13,       

- 

- 

1 

- 

1 

This  table  shows  that  of  the  group  at  work  one  year,  34  per  cent. 
earn  less  than  $5  a  week;  53  per  cent,  earn  from  $5  to  $9  a  week; 
and  13  per  cent,  earn  over  $9  a  week,  a  relatively  large  earning  power 
for  a  group  with  little  or  no  training.  Unless  employed  in  department 
stores  or  in  some  of  the  men's  rooms  in  shoe  factories,  many  of  them 
lack  opportunity  for  advancement,  and  are  kept  on  unskilled  work,  with 
no  change,  until  they  acquire  a  distaste  for  all  work.4 

Table  VII  shows  the  earning  power  of  a  similar  group  six  years 
after  leaving  school. 

1  Compare  Table  IX,  p.  112  of  Douglas  report,  1906,  on  "Industrial  and  Technical  Educa- 
tion." 

2  Minimum  wage  report,  p.  51. 

8  A  weighted  average  of  these  four  industries. 
4  See  study  of  149  boys  in  Lowell,  p.  55. 


50 


TABLE  VII.  —  Showing  percentage  of  those  employed  in  different  lines 
earning  a  given  wage,  with  weighted  average  for  whole  group  of 
those  out  of  school  six  years  (489  cases}. 


WAGE. 

Candy 
industry  (per 
cent.).  ! 

Shoe 
industry  (per 
cent.). 

Textile 
industry  (per 
cent.). 

Total 
group  (per 
cent.).  2 

$3  to  $3.99,    

16.1 

- 

.7 

1 

$4  to  $4  99 

24  9 

_ 

1.3 

2 

$5  to  $5.  99,    

24.2 

2.0 

5.7 

6 

$6  to  $6.99,    

17.0 

2.0 

13.0 

10 

$7  to  $7.99  

10.9 

2.0 

20.6 

14 

$8  to  $8.99  

3.4 

9.0 

20.8 

16 

$9  to  $9.99  

3.5 

6.0 

17.4 

13 

$10  to  $10.99,         .        .        . 

- 

8.0 

13.7 

11 

$11  to  $11.99  

- 

5.3 

2.4 

3 

$12  to  $12.99  

_ 

14.0 

3.0 

6 

$13  to  $13.99  

- 

6.0 

.3 

2 

$14  to  $14.99,         .... 

- 

3.3 

.7 

2 

$15  to  $15.99  

- 

14.7 

.3 

5 

$16  to  $16.99,         .... 

_ 

3.3 

.3 

1 

$17  to  $17.99,         .... 

- 

2.0 

$18  to  $18.99,         .... 

- 

6.6 

- 

2 

$19  to  $19.99          .... 

- 

- 

.3 

- 

Over  $20  

_ 

15  3 

5 

1  Report  on  Minimum  Wage,  p.  51. 

2  A  weighted  average  of  the  typical  industries. 


The  fact  that  41.3  per  cent,  of  those  employed  in. the  textile  industry 
receive  less  than  $8  a  week  accounts  in  large  part  for  the  idleness 
among  boys  from  eighteen  to  twenty-one  years  of  age.  There  is  no 
system  of  training  in  the  mill  which  fits  those  on  low-paid,  unskilled 
work  for  the  skilled  work  of  the  mill.  Only  21  per  cent,  of  the  textile 
workers  who  have  been  in  the  business  six  years  earn  $10  or  more,  and 
a  negligible  percentage  of  those  who  work  in  candy  factories  earn  this 
amount.  Only  21  per  cent,  of  the  group  which  has  been  employed  in 
the  shoe  industry  for  six  years,  whose  members  are  about  twenty-one 
years  old,  earn  less  than  $10  a  week.  Nineteen  per  cent.,  approxi- 
mately one  fifth  of  the  group  six  years  in  one  of  these  trades,  are 
earning  less  than  $7  a  week,  38  per  cent,  are  earning  more  than  $10, 
and  14  per  cent,  are  earning  more  than  $15,  but  it  is  the  higher  wage 
of  the  young  shoe  worker  which  pulls  up  this  average. 


51 


The  two  tables  which  follow  show  the  percentage  of  workers  in  the 
skilled  and  unskilled  employments  after  one  and  six  years  in  industry. 
The  distinctions  between  "  skilled  "  and  "  unskilled  "  are  those  employed 
in  the  respective  industries. 

TABLE  VIII.  —  Showing  percentage  in  skilled  and  unskilled  work  in 
different  industries  after  one  year  of  employment,  with  weighted 
average  for  whole  group  (193  cases). 


WORK. 

Candy 
industry  (per 
cent.). 

Shoe 
industry  (per 
cent.)- 

Textile 
industry  (per 
cent.). 

Total 
group  (per 
cent.).  ! 

Skilled  

16 

47 

48 

46 

Unskilled  

84 

53 

52 

54 

1  A  weighted  average  of  three  typical  industries. 

TABLE  IX.  —  Showing  percentage  of  workers  in  skilled  and  in  unskilled 
work  in  different  industries  after  six  years  of  employment,  with 
weighted  average  for  whole  group  (489  cases). 


WORK. 

Candy 
industry  (per 
cent.). 

Shoe 
industry  (per 
cent.). 

Textile 
industry  (per 
cent.). 

Total 
group  (per 
cent.),  i 

Skilled  

52 

43 

66 

58 

Unskilled,     

48 

57 

34 

42 

1  A  weighted  average  of  the  industries. 

There  seems  to  be  no  relation  between  the  length  of  time  in  the 
business  and  the  kind  of  work  done.  Forty-six  per  cent,  of  the  group 
which  had  been  at  work  one  year  were  doing  what  is  considered  skilled 
work,  54  per  cent,  unskilled  work.  After  six  years  in  the  trade  the 
proportions  were  a  little  more  than  reversed;  58  per  cent,  on  skilled 
work,  42  per  cent,  on  unskilled  work;  that  is,  six  years  mean  little,  so 
far  as  promotion  is  concerned,  very  few,  only  4  per  cent.,  advancing 
from  unskilled  to  skilled  work  during  these  years.  Those  who  began 
on  moderately  skilled  work  have  remained  where  they  started,  and 
most  of  those  who  started  on  unskilled  work  and  did  not  leave  it  dur- 
ing the  first  year  or  so  were  still  on  it.  Forty-six  per  cent,  of  the 
unskilled  workers  were  advanced  to  skilled  work  before  the  end  of 
their  second  year  in  the  trade,  that  is,  before  they  had  ceased  to  belong 
to  the  fourteen  to  seventeen  year  old  group. 

Table  X  shows  the  length  of  time  necessary  to  advance  from  un- 
skilled to  skilled  work  in  certain  industries,  together  with  the  per- 
centage of  the  group  which  required  this  time. 


52 


TABLE  X.  —  Showing  time  required  to  advance  to  skilled  work,  and  per- 
centage so  advancing,  for  group  out  of  school  six  years,  with 
weighted  average  (489  cases). 


YEARS. 

Candy 
industry  (per 
cent.). 

Shoe 
industry  (per 
cent.). 

Textile 
industry  (per 
cent.). 

Total 
group  (per 
cent.),  * 

No  time  required, 

37 

24 

9 

15 

Less  than  1  

15 

13 

19 

17 

1  to  2  

13 

13 

16 

14 

2  to  3  

13 

16 

19 

18 

3  to  4  

5 

15 

10 

11 

4  to  5,    

2 

12 

15 

14 

5  to  6  

15 

7 

12 

11 

1  A  weighted  average. 

Little  training  is  needed  for  the  so-called  "skilled  work."  Fifteen 
per  cent,  started  on  skilled  work  and  46  per  cent,  were  on  such  work 
before  the  end  of  the  second  year. 

The  following  table  shows  increases  over  initial  wages  for  the  workers 
out  of  school  six  years  in  different  industries :  — 

TABLE  XI.  —  Showing  percentage  receiving  specified  increases  in  differ- 
ent industries^  with  weighted  average  for  group  out  of  school  six 
years  (489  cases). 


INCREASE. 

Candy 

industry  (per 
cent.). 

Shoe 

industry  (per 
cent.). 

Textile 
industry  (per 
cent.). 

Weighted 
average  (per 
cent.). 

$0,         ,        

- 

7 

_ 

2 

11  to  S3  

75 

13 

32 

24 

$4  to  16  

25 

25 

49 

43 

$7  to  $9  

- 

25 

78 

21 

$10  to  $15,     . 

15 

Over  $16,       

- 

15 

1 

5 

Tables  VIII  and  IX  seem  to  indicate  that  there  is  little  difference 
between  the  kind  of  work  done  by  the  young  people  who  have  been 
six  years  in  the  trade  and  that  done  by  those  who  have  been  at  work 
one  or  two  years.  There  is,  however,  a  great  difference  in  wage.  As 
shown  by  the  above  table,  31  per  cent.,  nearly  one  third,  increased 
their  wage  $7  or  more ;  43  per  cent,  increased  it  from  $4  to  $6  beyond 
the  initial  wage;  only  2  per  cent,  had  no  increase,  or  dropped  below 


53 

the  wage  first  earned.  This  increase,  since  it  does  not  usually  indicate 
employment  on  a  higher  grade  of  work,  must  mean  increase  in  speed 
of  production  or  the  ability  to  turn  out  work  rapidly. 

Boys  and  girls  are  not  hired  with  reference  to  the  possibility  of 
their  future  advancement  in  the  industry,  and  there  is  no  system  of 
training  which  has  in  view  their  largest  possible  development  in  the 
line  which  they  enter.  The  shop  or  factory  in  which  they  first  find 
employment  is  a  matter  of  chance,  and  the  organization  of  most  of 
the  plants  is  such  that  their  immediate  power  and  productiveness  are 
the  chief  concerns  of  the  foreman  and  superintendent.  If  such  atten- 
tion is  given  to  the  training  of  young  workers,  it  is  done  at  the  expense 
of  the  productiveness  of  the  department  in  which  they  are  employed. 

The  machine  shops  are  practically  the  only  plants  studied  which  still 
try  to  maintain  a  system  of  training.  Even  there,  unless  such  work  is 
done  in  a  department  especially  organized  to  deal  with  the  problem 
of  teaching,  investigation  shows  that  in  almost  every  case  the  system 
has  failed,  and  that  the  young  workers  in  this  industry  are  as  much 
in  need  of  training,  help  and  guidance  as  those  in  the  other  groups.1 

Young  people  are  kept  on  one  machine,  first,  because  the  immediate 
demands  of  the  business  require  it;  foremen  and  superintendents  have 
not  time  to  give  instruction ;  machines  are  too  expensive  and  floor  space 
too  valuable  to  curtail  production  for  the  sake  of  teaching  the  worker; 
second,  young  workers  when  allowed  to  specialize,  can  make  much 
more  money  on  the  special  job  than  is  possible  under  a  system  which 
would  give  them  breadth  of  training;  hence  they  break  apprenticeship 
agreements,  and  manufacturers  are  loath  to  give  much  time  to  train- 
ing young  workers  when  they  are  likely  to  leave  at  any  time  and  go 
to  some  other  plant. 

While  the  worker  in  the  shoe  industry  makes  the  largest  wage,  it  is 
believed  that  this  is  not  without  its  disadvantages,  as  it  is  estimated 
that  the  young  shoe  worker  can  reach  the  maximum  speed  and  effi- 
ciency at  nineteen  or  younger.  This  is  likely  to  mean  a  loss  of  am- 
bition and  in  many  cases  a  physical  breakdown,  as  it  is  estimated  that 
in  operating  certain  machines  at  the  maximum  speed  a  person's  in- 
dustrial life  as  a  high  wage  earner  will  be  little  over  five  years.  After 
that  comes  the  continuous  heart-breaking  drop  to  less  skilled  work 
and  lower  wages.  Low  wages  in  textiles  often  mean  the  same  thing. 
It  was  not  at  all  unusual  in  the  experience  of  the  investigators  to  find 
a  young  girl  who  had  been  running  eight  to  ten  looms,  and  making 
over  $10  a  week,  who  had  been  obliged  to  drop  back  into  less  arduous 
work  in  three  or  four  years.  This  is  a  trial  which  makes  them  bitter 
as  no  other  experience  seems  to  do.  A  larger  proportion  of  all-round 
work  and  a  wage  less  definitely  indicating  speeding  would  be  an  augury 
for  a  better  industrial  future  for  all  young  workers. 

i  See  p.  65. 


54 

Monotonous  work,  especially  that  which  requires  great  speed  and 
uses  up  nervous  energy,  should  not  be  done  for  any  long  period  by 
young  people  under  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  the  years  up  to  this 
time  should  be  spent  in  physical  and  mental  upbuilding  in  prepara- 
tion for  the  years  of  industrial  life  to  come.  Doing  such  work  at  an 
early  age  requires  either  too  much  physical  strength  or  else  is  of  such 
a  nature  that  the  young  person  becomes  discouraged  by  the  continued 
repetition  of  the  task  and  acquires  a  distaste  for  all  work.  Boys  and 
girls  under  eighteen  years  of  age  require  a  constant  change  of  occu- 
pation, and  up  to  within  a  comparatively  few  years  industry  has 
always  been  so  organized  that  young  workers  were  constantly  changed 
from  one  kind  of  work  to  another.  On  the  farm  they  had  a  variety 
of  different  occupations  during  each  day,  and  where  boys  were  appren- 
ticed they  acted  as  helpers  to  the  master,  doing  a  variety  of  work 
during  the  week;  whereas  industry  is  now  so  organized  that  the  work 
of  the  young  person  is  very  frequently  a  monotonous  repetition  of  the 
same  task.  Employers  are  complaining  that  young  people  no  longer 
want  to  work,  without  stopping  to  realize  that  the  kind  of  work  they 
wish  done  is  very  often  in  direct  opposition  to  the  physical  require- 
ments of  the  child  during  these  years;  also,  that  it  would  be  better, 
not  only  for  their  business  but  for  the  welfare  of  the  children,  to  see 
that  the  tasks  are  changed  occasionally  rather  than  to  change  young 
help  so  often.  The  experience  of  the  boys  studied  in  Lowell1  is  be- 
lieved to  be  typical  of  hundreds  of  others  who  are  now  shifting  from 
factory  to  factory  merely  to  get  a  change  in  surroundings  if  not  in 
occupation.  This  is  not  only  the  worst  possible  thing  for  these  young 
people  but  it  is  believed  to  be  more  expensive  to  their  employers  than 
is  generally  realized.  It  is  costing  more  in  actual  dollars  than  would 
be  involved  in  the  adoption  of  a  plan  which  would  provide  for  an 
occasional  change  from  one  department  to  another  in  the  mill. 

Young  people  in  department  stores  are  not,  nominally,  as  much  in 
need  of  part-time  schooling  as  those  employed  in  factories  and  mills. 
They  do  not  leave  school  in  large  numbers  at  fourteen;  more  than  a 
third  of  their  group  enters  the  high  school,  but  this  education  does 
not  fit  them  for  department  store  work.  They  have  not  the  elements 
of  an  education,  —  reading,  writing  and  arithmetic.  Furthermore,  the 
complete  disappearance  of  the  old  apprenticeship  system  leaves  them 
without  any  way  of  learning  their  trade  except  as  it  is  possible  for 
them  to  pick  it  up.  This  haphazard  method  does  not  make  enough 
leaders  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  industry.  \\^hile  these  boys  and 
girls  go  further  in  school,  they  are  not  able  to  use  their  education  in 
a  practical  way,  and  they  are  as  much  in  need  of  part-time  education 
as  any  other  group. 

For  further  discussion  see  Appendix  G,  pp.  147-159. 

i  Seep.  55. 


55 


II.     STUDY  OF  302  UNEMPLOYED  BOYS    (149  IN  LOWELL  AND  153  IN 

FALL  RIVER). 

The  desire  to  determine,  if  possible,  why  such  a  large  number  of 
boys  is  idle  while  the  mills  need  help,  and  the  possibility  of  getting 
these  boys  to  take  the  places  of  those  who  would  leave  the  mills  to 
attend  a  possible  part-time  school,  led  to  the  study  of  302  boys  who 
were  found  idle  on  the  streets  of  Fall  River  and  Lowell.  The  findings 
in  both  cities  were  practically  the  same,  and  this  group  was  found  to 
be  but  slightly  different  from  those,  studied  through  the  age  and  school- 
ing certificates. 

1.  For  the  most  part,  these  boys  were  born  in  the  United  States. 
Eighty-five  per  cent,  of  the  Lowell  group   and  88  per  cent,   of  the 
Fall  River  group  were  born  in  this   country.     Practically  the  same 
result  was  found  in  studying  the  nativity  of  the  other  groups. 

2.  A  larger  percentage  of  this  group  left  school  at  fourteen  years 
of  age  or  earlier;   86.5  per  cent.,   as  against  73  per   cent,   of  those 
studied   through  the   age   and  schooling  certificates.     In   Lowell,  83.8 
per  cent,  left  at  fourteen  years  of  age;  2.7  per  cent,  left  at  thirteen 
years.    In  Fall  River,  a  smaller  per  cent.,  75.2,  left  at  fourteen  years, 
but  19.1  per  cent,  left  before  they  were  fourteen.     After  comparing 
methods  of  granting  age  and  schooling  certificates  in  the  cities,  one 
would  expect  to  find  a  larger  proportion  leaving  illegally  in  the  latter 
place. 

3.  This  group  is  typical  as  to  the  grades  attained.    The  largest  per 
cent,  left  in  the  seventh  year.     In  Lowell,  33.5  per  cent,  left  during 
this  year;  in  Fall  River,  22.2  per  cent,  left  in  the  seventh  year.    While 
in  Lowell  a  larger  number  left  in  the  seventh  year,  fewer  left  before 
the  seventh  year  than  in  Fall  River,  30.1  per  cent,  in  Lowell  as  against 
44.1  per  cent,  in  Fall  River.     Of  the  total  group  studied  from  the  age 
and  schooling  certificates,1  21.4  per  cent,  left  in  the  seventh  year  and  43.6 
per  cent,  left  before  the  seventh  year. 

4.  In  Fall  River,  33.2  per  cent,  went  beyond  the  seventh  grade;  in 
Lowell,  36.2  per  cent,  went  beyond  this  grade,  but  in  neither  case  were 
they  any  better  fitted  to  cope  with  the  real  problems  of  life  than  they 
would  have  been  had  they  left  school  earlier. 

5.  The  information  collected  as  to  shifting  from  factory  to  factory 
and  the  length  of  time  out  of  employment  cannot  be  compared  with 
that  gathered  for  the  group  studied  from  the  age  and  schooling  cer- 
tificates, because  information  on  these  points  was  not  collected  for  the 
other  groups.     This  study  shows  a  tremendous  amount  of  shifting  and 
idleness,  and  probably  the  same  thing  would  be  found  to  be  true  of 
the  other  group. 

6.  These  boys  were  on  the  streets  because   of    (1)    lack  of  school 
training  and  fitness  for  a  vocation;    (2)   lack  of  system  in  the  mills 

i  See  Table  IV,  p.  47  of  Appendix  C. 


56 

which  would  train  those  on  the  unskilled  job  for  the  skilled;  (3) 
monotonous  employment  on  the  same  kind  of  work;  (4)  failure  of  the 
work  of  the  regular  public  schools  to  appeal  to  them. 

7.  It  was  the  opinion  of  the  investigator  that  these  boys  were  typical 
of  the  average  boy  found  in  a  city  school  system;  that  they  were  sus- 
ceptible to  the  influence  of  a  school  of  the  right  type;  that,  if  prop- 
erly directed,  they  could  be  held  at  work  and  be  given  school  training 
instead  of  growing  up  in  idleness. 

The  groups  studied  in  Lowell  and  Fall  River  did  not  include  the 
successful  worker  found  in  the  studies  of  those  who  entered  the  differ- 
ent industries  one  and  six  years  ago ;  otherwise  the  study  shows  a  fairly 
prevalent  condition  among  young  workers.  The  Fall  River  study  was 
made  under  normal  conditions,  while  the  study  in  Lowell  was  made 
during  a  time  of  unsettled  labor  conditions;  but  the  results  in  both 
cities  seem  to  show  the  same  things  to  be  true,  and  the  Lowell  study 
is  presented  in  some  detail  to  represent  the  conditions  found  in  both 
cities.  This  study  was  not  aimed  at  any  particular  industry  but  at 
the  community  as  a  whole.  In  all  of  the  other  investigations  the  names 
were  taken  from  the  age  and  schooling  certificates  granted  to  young 
people  who  had  entered  the  industry  which  was  to  be  studied.  In  the 
case  of  the  investigation  in  Lowell,  the  information  was  collected  from 
boys  on  the  street  by  an  investigator  with  a  large  and  very  successful 
experience  in  dealing  with  boys,  who  was  able  to  get  their  confidence 
and  was  especially  well  qualified  to  compare  these  boys  with  those 
ordinarily  found  in  the  public  schools.  In  the  other  studies  the  young 
people  were  visited  in  their  homes,  and  since  the  names  were  taken 
from  the  age  and  schooling  certificates,  the  investigators  had  no  means 
of  knowing  what  type  of  person  would  be  met  or  what  information 
would  be  obtained,  while  in  the  Lowell  study  it  was  expected  to  find 
those  who  were  unemployed  and  more  or  less  shifting;  so,  in  this  way, 
the  group  might  be  considered  a  selected  one.  The  investigator  visited 
pool  rooms,  shoe-shining  "  parlors,"  back  alleys  and  other  places  where- 
ever  boys  were  in  sight.  Those  interviewed  are  a  fair  representation 
of  a  large  number  of  the  boys  in  Lowell.  In  this  way,  149  boys  were 
approached  by  the  investigator,  and,  with  a  single  exception,  questions 
were  answered  willingly  and  courteously.  The  answers  to  the  ques- 
tions which  were  asked  have  been  tabulated  and  are  summarized  in 
the  tables  which  follow.  Of  the  149  boys,  all  but  15,  or  10  per  cent., 
had  worked  or  were  working  in  a  mill  just  before  the  study  was  made.1 
Ninety  per  cent,  of  the  boys,  therefore,  were  intimately  associated  with 
the  mill  industry.  The  other  15  boys  had  last  worked  as  follows: 
7  in  a  shoe  factory,  1  with  the  telegraph  company,  4  in  stores,  2  in 
a  wire  factory  and  1  with  a  show. 

»  This  atudy  was  made  during  the  first  week  of  the  Lowell  strike  and  for  this  reason  more  boys 
were  found  on  the  street  than  would  otherwise  have  been  the  case;  but  the  experience  of  all 
the  boys,  whether  they  had  been  working  just  previous  to  the  strike  or  not,  was  so  similar  that 
it  ia  believed  to  represent  the  true  state  of  affairs. 


57 


TABLE  XII.  —  Showing  birthplaces  of  149  unemployed  boys  in  Lowell. 


BIRTHPLACE. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

United  States,      

126 

84  5 

Lowell  

107 
19 

71.8 
12  7 

Outside  United  States  

23 

15.4 

Total  

149 

99.9 

TABLE  XIII.  —  Showing  parentage  of  149  unemployed  boys  in  Lowell. 


PARENTAGE. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

English, 

19 

1°  6 

French-Canadian,        
Irish 

36 
64 

24.1 
49  9 

American, 

8 

5  3 

Scotch,         

3 

2  0 

German,      
Swede,         

2 
2 

1.3 
1  3 

Portuguese,          
Polish  

6 

c 

4.0 
4  0 

Hebrew 

2 

1  2 

Italian,         .                 .                          . 

1 

6     ' 

Total,    

149 

99  4 

Table  XII  shows  that  practically  85  per  cent,  of  the  boys  were 
American  born  and  that  about  72  per  cent,  were  born  in  Lowell.  Table 
XIII,  however,  shows  a  variety  of  nationalities,  with  the  Irish,  French- 
Canadian  and  English  in  the  lead.  With  the  exception  of  5.3  per  cent., 
the  parents  of  these  boys  were  foreign  born. 

TABLE  XIV.  —  Showing  age  on  leaving  school  of  149  unemployed  boys 

in  Lowell. 


AGE. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

13  vears,       

4 

2.7 

125 

83.8 

16 

10.7 

16  years,       

4 

2.7 

Total  

149 

99.9 

58 


TABLE  XV.  —  Showing  grade  attained  in  school  at  time  of  leaving  by 
149  unemployed  boys  in  Lowell. 


GRADE. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Third  
Fourth,                                  

3 

3 

2.0 
2.0 

Fifth,  

17 

11.4 

Sixth                                                          

22 

14.7 

Seventh,      
Eighth                                                                         .... 

50 
25 

33.5 
16.8 

Ninth,                                            

24 

16.1 

Tenth,  l       

5 

3.3 

Total,    

149 

99.5 

1  First  year  of  high  school. 

Table  XIV  confirms  the  statement  so  often  heard  that  the  majority 
of  boys  leave  school  just  as  soon  as  the  law  allows  them  to  do  so.  This 
table  shows  that  about  84  per  cent,  left  school  at  the  age  of  fourteen 
years,  while  87  per  cent,  left  school  before  the  age  of  fifteen. 

Table  XV  shows  the  grades  attained  before  the  boys  left  school. 
Ninety-five,  or  63.6  per  cent.,  left  before  the  eighth  grade;  120,  or 
80.4  per  cent.,  before  the  ninth  grade. 

TABLE  XVI.  —  Showing  ages  at  the  time  of  the  investigation  of  149 
unemployed  boys  in  Lowell. 


AGE. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

14  to  15  years,      

23 

15.4 

15  to  16  years  

49 

32.8 

16  to  17  years,      

38 

25.5 

17  to  18  years  

16 

10.7 

18  to  19  years  

15 

10.0 

19  to  20  years,      

7 

4.6 

Over  20  years  

1 

.5 

Total  

149 

99  5 

Table  XVI  shows  the  ages  of  the  boys  at  the  time  of  the  investiga- 
tion. Eighty-four  and  four  tenths  per  cent,  were  between  the  ages 
of  fourteen  and  eighteen  years. 


59 


TABLE  XVII.  —  Showing  number  of  years  since  beginning  work  of  149 
unemployed  boys  in  Lowell. 


NUMBER  OF  TEARS. 

Number  of 
boys. 

Per  cent. 

Less  than  1  year  

39 

26.1 

1  to  2  years,         

43 

28.8 

2  to  3  years,         

34 

22.8 

3  to  4  years,         

17 

11.4 

4  to  5  years,         

13 

8.7 

5  to  6  years,         .         .        .         

1 

.6 

6  to  7  years  

1 

.6 

Never  worked,     

1 

.6 

Total,    

149 

99.6 

TABLE  XVIII.  —  Showing  the  lowest,  highest  and  average  initial  sal- 
ary ;  the  lowest,  highest  and  average  salary  last  received;  the 
average  increase  and  per  cent,  of  increase  of  average  salary  last 
received  over  average  initial  salaries  for  boys  grouped  according 
to  length  of  service  (weekly  wage],  of  149  cases  (unemployed  boys 
in  Lowell). 


Per 

NUMBER  OF  TEARS 

OF  SERVICE. 

Lowest 
initial 
salary. 

Highest 
initial 
salary. 

Average 
initial 
salary. 

Lowest 
salary 
last  re- 
ceived. 

Highest 
salary 
last  re- 
ceived. 

Average 
salary 
last  re- 
ceived. 

Average 
in-< 
crease. 

cent,  of 
increase 
in 
average 

salary. 

Less  than  1  year,    .  • 

$0  78 

$7  22 

$4  29 

$3  00 

$6^60 

$4  68 

1039 

9.0 

1  to  2  years,    . 

3  00 

7  00 

4  52 

3  00 

8  50 

5105 

53 

11.7 

2  to  3  years,    . 

1  50 

50 

4  2 

3  50 

8  00 

5  70 

1  45 

34.1 

3  to  4  years,    . 

3  00 

9  0 

5  49 

4  47 

8150 

6131 

82 

14.9 

4  to  5  years,    . 

3  75 

9  75 

4  f4 

5  70 

11  50 

7  48 

2  54 

51.4 

5   to  6  years,  . 

5  40 

5  40 

5  40 

6  50 

6  50 

6  50 

1  10 

20.3 

6  to  7  years,    . 

4  05 

4  05 

4  05 

10  00 

10  00 

10  00 

5  95 

14.7 

The  data  of  the  foregoing  tables  may  be  summarized  as  follows :  — 


Average  length  of  service   (years),     . 
Average  initial  salary  (weekly  wage), 
Average  salary  last  received  (weekly  wage), 
Average  increase  in  salary  (weekly  wage), 
Increase  in  salary  (weekly  wage)    (per  cent.), 


1.7 

$4  47 

$5  51 

$1  04 

23.2 


60 


There  seerns  to  be  no  consistent  relation  between  the  number  of  years 
of  service  and  the  increase  in  salary.  Table  XVIII  shows  that  the 
one  boy  who  had  worked  from  six  to  seven  years  had  increased  his 
initial  salary  14.7  per  cent.;  but  because  he  is  the  only  boy  in  this 
group,  little  weight  is  attached  to  his  case. 

Tables  XIV  to  XVIII  inclusive  reveal  conditions  as  observed  by  the 
investigator.  These  boys  are,  for  the  most  part,  children  of  foreign 
parentage  who  go  into  the  mills  as  soon  as  they  are  fourteen  or  fifteen 
years  old.  Few  of  them  have  completed  the  seventh  grade  of  the  gram- 
mar school.  They  begin  work  in  whatever  mill  they  happen  to  find 
something  to  do,  generally  as  sweepers,  bobbin  boys  or  creelers.  They 
earn  a  fair  wage  for  boys  of  these  ages,  but  because  the  work  requires 
little  skill  or  training,  it  soon  becomes  monotonous,  and  after  three  or 
four  months  a  boy  "  jacks  up  "  (gives  up  his  job),  and  begins  again  in 
another  mill,  perhaps  at  the  same  kind  of  work.  Nearly  all  the  boys 
stated  that  it  took  them  from  thirty  minutes  to  eight  hours  to  learn  to 
do  their  work.  Thus  a  boy  goes  from  one  mill  to  another,  learning  no 
particular  trade  and  acquiring  not  even  a  small  degree  of  skill  in  oper- 
ating a  machine.  At  the  end  of  three  or  four  years  his  earning  power 
has  increased  but  slightly;  he  sees  no  opportunity  ahead,  and  he  gives 
up  the  mill  for  anything  else  which  he  can  find. 

The  following  illustrations  are  typical  of  most  of  these  boys :  — 

No.  1.  —  Boy  born  in  Lowell;  left  school  at  fourteen  years  of  age;  was 
in  the  seventh  grade;  attended  school  eight  years. 


KIND  OF  JOB  (MILL). 

Length  of  service. 

Wage. 

1.  Cleaner  

5  weeks  

$2  87 

2.  Sweeper,           

2  weeks,      

4  42 

Out  of  work  two  weeks,      

- 

- 

3.  Sweeper,          

4  weeks  

4  42 

No.  2.  —  Boy  born  in  Lowell;   left  school  at  fourteen  years;   in  eighth 
grade;  attended  school  nine  years. 


KIND  OF  JOB  (MILL). 

Length  of  service. 

Wage. 

1.  Creeler  

8  months,    

$3  92 

2.  Sweeper,          

2  months,    

4  97 

3.  Sweeper,          

4  months,    

4  59 

4.  Creeler  

3  months,    

4  86 

61 


ATo.  3. 


KIND  OF  JOB  (MILL). 

Length  of  service. 

Wage. 

1.  Backboy,       

3  months,   

$4  00 

2.  Doffer,  

2  months,   

3  00to4  00 

3.  Riding  horses  for  blacksmith, 

2  months,   

4  00 

4    Twister                                     .... 

2  months, 

4  00 

5.  Spare  hand,  

1H  years  

600 

6.  Sweeper,         

2  months,   

4  00 

7.  Doffer  

2  months  

4  00 

8.  Sweeper,         

1  year,         .        .        .        . 

4  00  to  5  00 

9.  Cleaner  1 

2  months,    

4  00  to  5  00 

10.  Backboy,       J 

This  boy  was  born  in  Lowell,  and  left  school  at  fourteen  years,  in  the 
seventh  grade.  At  each  mill  he  "jacked  up"  because  he  did  not  like  the 
work.  In  little  more  than  three  and  one  half  years  this  boy  had  had  ten 
different  jobs,  an  average  of  four  and  one  half  months  on  each.  He 
started  as  backboy  at  a  wage  approximately  the  same  as  that  received  on 
his  last  job,  in  exactly  the  same  capacity  in  which  he  began. 

No.  4.  —  Boy  born  in  Lowell ;  left  school  at  fourteen  years,  in  seventh 
grade;  attended  school  nine  years. 


KIND  OP  JOB  (MILL). 

Length  of  service. 

Wage. 

1.  Creeler,    

6  months,    

$4  06 

2.  Bobbin  boy,    

1  year,        

6  30 

3.  Riding  horses  for  blacksmith, 

1  year,        

5  00 

6  18 

5.  Stitcher, 

4  months,    ' 

6  84 

6.  Bobbin  boy,    

2  months,    

7  72 

In  reply  to  the  question,  "  Do  you  want  to  learn  a  trade  ?  "  about 
50  per  cent,  of  the  boys  answered,  "  Yes ;  "  the  others  gave  no  definite 
reply.  With  few  exceptions,  the  answers  given  by  all  the  boys  showed 
that  little  thought  had  ever  been  spent  upon  the  matter  of  preparing 
for  a  definite  kind  of  work  in  the  form  of  a  trade. 

The  boys  who  were  out  of  work  previous  to  the  strike  said  that  they 
had  had  no  chance  to  learn  a  trade,  and  that  the  mills  offer  the  only 
opportunity  for  work.  When  it  was  suggested  that  the  Lowell  Industrial 
School  might  offer  some  assistance,  several  replied  that  they  had  made 
application  for  admission  to  the  school,  but  had  been  refused  because 


62 

there  was  already  a  waiting  list.  The  evening  vocational  school  was 
closed  against  them  either  because  they  were  too  young  or  because 
they  were  not  engaged  in  the  particular  trade  or  a  trade  related  to 
the  one  which  they  wished  to  study.  Several  of  the  older  boys  stated 
that  they  could  not  afford  to  attend  a  day  school  because  they  were 
obliged  to  contribute  to  the  family  income;  but  they  were  anxious  to 
learn  some  trade.  To  some  of  these  boys  the  investigator  described 
a  "  part-time  "  school  and  asked  their  opinion  of  it.  The  one  objection 
seemed  to  be  that  they  could  not  afford  to  be  deprived  of  a  week's 
salary  on  alternate  weeks.  Some  boys,  however,  thought  that  if  they 
could  be  regularly  employed  during  alternate  weeks  at  a  fair  salary, 
at  the  end  of  a  year  they  would  have  earned  more  than  they  are  earning 
under  present  conditions,  because  of  the  intervals  between  the  frequent 
changes  in  positions,  which  reduce  the  yearly  earnings. 

Here,  then,  is  a  group  of  boys  who  leave  the  grammar  school  as 
soon  as  the  law  allows  them  to  do  so,  poorly  equipped,  yet  not  qualified 
by  age  and  occupation  to  profit  by  attending  the  evening  vocational 

school,  and  no  other  opportunity  for  further  training  is  open  to  them. 
I 

TABLE  XIX.  —  Showing  evening  school  attendance  of  149  unemployed 
boys  studied  in  Lowell. 


SCHOOL  ATTENDED. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Evening  grammar  school  

43 

28.8 

Evening  high  school  

16 

10.7 

Neither,       .     •    . 

90 

60  4 

Total  

149 

99  9 

The  above  table  shows  the  number  of  boys  in  this  group  who  at- 
tended an  evening  school  during  the  past  winter.  .  Although  nearly 
40  per  cent,  of  them  appear  to  have  registered  for  some  sort  of  even- 
ing school  work,  only  two  boys  attended  during  the  entire  season. 
Without  exception,  those  boys  who  registered  in  the  evening  high 
school  began  the  study  of  bookkeeping,  but  soon  dropped  it  because 
it  had  not  the  remotest  relation  to  the  work  which  they  were  doing 
for  a  living;  yet  it  was  the  only  kind  of  training  open  to  them. 

III.    STUDY  OF  2,462  ADULT  WORKERS. 

The  information  collected  from  most  of  these  workers  was  obtained 
principally  through  blanks  filled  out  by  the  workers  themselves  in  the 
following  lines:  machine  shops,  cotton  mills,  boot  and  shoe  shops,  con- 
fectionery establishments,  department  stores,  printing  and  publishing 
establishments.  This  method  did  not  prove  to  be  a  satisfactory  means 


63 

of  getting  detailed  information,   but  it   showed  the  following   things 
to  be  true :  — 

1.  That  foremen  and  superintendents  have  received  a  training  which 
gives  them  a  good  general  knowledge  of  the  business  as  a  whole,  or  at 
least  of  the  work  of  one  department;  that  they  had  either  received 
this  training  before  the  work  became  so  highly  specialized   as  it  is 
to-day,  or  they  had  changed  from  one  shop  to  another  to  get  general 
experience,  or  some  one  had  taken  a  special  interest  in  them  and  had 
given  them  help  and  encouragement. 

2.  That  the  specialized  worker  who  had  received  the  broadest  train- 
ing is  in  the  group  getting  the  highest  wage,  and  is  considered  the 
most  valuable  man  by  employers. 

3.  That  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases  the  specialized  worker  had 
taken  from  one  to  six  months  to  learn  to  do  one  operation  or  to  run 
a  special  machine. 

4.  That  it  is  a  rare  exception  to  find  a  specialized  worker  who  can 
do  anything  other  than  the  specialized  work  on  which  he  is  employed. 

5.  That  where  boot  and  shoe  and  machine  shops  are  located  near 
textile  centers,  the  vast  majority  of  their  workers  had  started  their 
industrial  careers  in  the  textile  business. 

6.  That  large  numbers  of  these  older  workers  came  to  this  country 
as  men  and  women;   that  they  are  to-day  practically  illiterate,   and 
that,  because  of  this,  they  are  handicapped  so  far  as  promotion  in  the 
business  is  concerned. 

7.  That  those  workers  who  had  an  opinion  on  the  value  of  a  wider 
knowledge  of  the  work,  including  the  operations  which  precede  and 
succeed  their   own,   expressed  themselves   as  being  in   favor  of  such 
training,  and  stated  that  it  would  mean  advancement  in  the  business 
for  them. 

The  following  is  a  summary  of  a  study  made  of  a  group  of  men 
in  one  machine  shop  doing  a  manufacturing  business  on  a  large  scale 
but  with  a  low-grade  product.  It  does  not  fairly  represent  the  skill 
required  nor  the  wage  in  the  business  as  a"  whole,  but  it  is  a  sample 
of  the  other  studies  which  were  made.  The  primary  object  of  the 
study  was  to  determine,  if  possible,  how  many  of  these  men  began 
their  industrial  life  in  the  textile  business,  why  they  changed,  and 
what  their  success  in  the  machine  industry  had  been. 

Through  the  courtesy  of  the  superintendent,  the  investigator  was 
permitted  to  interview  the  men  at  their  work,  taking  as  much  time 
as  seemed  reasonable.  Three  departments  of  the  shop  were  visited  and 
88  men  were  interviewed.  The  purpose  of  these  interviews  was  to  find 
out  if  the  previous  experience  of  these  men  had  been  at  all  similar  to 
that  of  the  boys  investigated  on  the  street,  and  if  so  what  their  success 
in  industry  had  been.  The  purpose  of  the  investigation  was  briefly  ex- 
plained to  each  man,  and  in  all  cases  questions  were  answered  willingly 


and  courteously.  Every  man  showed  a  disposition  to  do  anything  in  his 
power  to  make  the  future  of  the  boys  who  must  take  their  places 
brighter  than  their  own. 

Most  of  these  men  called  themselves  machinists,  yet  few  claimed  to 
have  the  qualifications  and  experience  which  this  name  implies.  With 
few  exceptions,  each  man  had  been  hired  to  operate  a  particular  ma- 
chine or  to  do  a  particular  kind  of  work,  the  nature  of  which  had  not 
been  changed  since  employment  began. 

The  length  of  service  in  the  present  occupation  varied  from  a  few 
months  to  twenty-five  years.  Of  the  88  men  interviewed,  69,  or  78.4 
per  cent,,  had  worked  in  a  cotton  mill  before  entering  the  machine 
shop ;  19,  or  21.6  per  cent.,  had  not.  Their  reasons  for  leaving  the  mill, 
their  wages  in  mill  and  shop,  and  their  mill  records  are  shown  in  the 
three  tables  below :  — 

TABLE  XX.  —  Showing  reasons  for  leaving  mill. 


REASON  FOR  LEAVING  MILL. 

Number  of 
men. 

Per  cent. 

Wanted  to  learn  a  trade,     

20 

28.9 

Did  not  like  the  work,        

20 

28.9 

No  chance  to  advance,       

12 

17.3 

Discharged,          

2 

2.9- 

Forced  out  (strike),     

4 

5.6 

2 

2.9- 

Sickness  

2 

2.9- 

No  answer,          

7 

10.1 

Total, 

69 

100  0 

TABLE  XXI.  —  Showing  average  wage  of  workers  who  began  in  ma- 
chine shop. 


NUMBER  OP  YEARS  IN  MACHINE  SHOP. 

Number  of 
men. 

Average 
weekly  pay. 

2  years,       

2 

$8  10 

3  years 

4 

10  26 

4  years 

10  80 

5  years,       

2 

10  26 

7  years,       ... 

4 

11  34 

9  years,       
10  years,      

1 
3 

10  80 
10  26 

15  years,      

21  60 

20  years,       

1 

1  Would  not  tell. 


65 


TABLE  XXII.  —  Showing  previous  record  of  men  now  in  machine  shop. 


NUMBER  OF  YEARS  IN  MACHINE 

SHOP. 

Number  of 
men. 

Average  time 
in  mill. 

Average 
pay  in  mill 
per  week. 

Average  pay 
in  shop. 

Less  than  1  year, 

11 

1  y.    9m. 

$6  60 

S9  05 

6 

1  y.    8  m. 

7  39 

9  50 

3  years  

9 

4  y.    6  m. 

8  06 

9  30 

4 

1  y.    Om. 

7  83 

10  12 

5  years  

2 

2  y.    0  m. 

5  87 

11  42 

6  years  

6 

1  y.    1m. 

8  25 

9  95 

7  years,         

7 

0  y.    9  m. 

5  45 

10  05 

8  years,         

6 

2  y.  10  m. 

6  13 

11  00 

9  years,        .         . 

2 

1  y.    8m. 

10  00 

12  25 

10  years  

1 

4  y.    0  m. 

5  50 

10  88 

12  years,         

3 

2  y.    5  m. 

5  36 

11  00 

14  years,         

3 

1  y.    0  m. 

6  20 

11  67 

15  years  

2 

0  y.    6m. 

4  50 

10  00 

16  years,         

2 

2  y.    6m. 

3  00 

12  50 

17  years,         

1 

0  y.  11  m. 

6  60 

9  70 

18  years  

j 

2  y.    8m. 

6  30 

10  80 

2 

3  y.    0  m. 

7  50 

11  90 

25  years,         

1  y.    6m. 

6  30 

31  50 

The  tabulation  of  information  obtained  from  these  men  shows  that 
their  experience  in  the  mill  gave  them  no  preparation  for  the  machine 
industry,  so  they  had  to  be  employed  as  specialists  on  work  requiring 
comparatively  little,  if  any,  more  skill  than  was  required  in  the  mill. 
The  wages  which  these  men  are  now  receiving  would  seem  to  leave  no 
doubt  that  a  system  of  training  begun  at  fourteen  years  would  have 
enabled  them  to  reach  very  much  better  positions  in  the  machine  shop 
after  leaving  the  mill,  and  would  have  enabled  them  to  do  at  least  as 
well,  if  not  better,  than  they  are  now  doing  had  they  remained  in  the 
textile  business. 

IV.    CONDITIONS  IN  MACHINE  SHOPS. 

The  young  people  who  go  to  work  in  machine  shops  were  not  studied 
as  much  in  detail  as  were  the  workers  in  the  candy,  textile  and  boot  and 
shoe  industries,  but  there  is  evidence  to  show  that  the  age  at  which 
they  leave  school  and  the  grade  reached,  etc.,  are  practically  the  same 
as  in  the  other  industries  mentioned. 

The  kind  of  work  done,  the  requirements  of  the  trade  and  the  con- 
ditions of  learning  were  studied.  On  the  whole,  the  industry  still 
holds  to  the  traditions  of  apprenticeship,  and  the  proprietors  of  these 


66 

establishments  prefer  boys  over  sixteen  years  old.  From  the  published 
reports,  it  would  appear  that  there  are  about  935  boys,  or  1.9  per  cent, 
of  the  whole  number  of  persons  employed  in  the  industry,  who  are 
under  seventeen  years  of  age.  The  kind  of  work  done  by  these  young- 
people  roughly  corresponds  to  that  done  by  the  young  shoe  worker. 
About  half  are  doing  miscellaneous  work  as  helpers,  errand  boys  and  a 
low  grade  of  production  work,  such  as  drilling,  cleaning  castings,  simple 
milling,  etc.,  while  the  other  half  are  doing  what  might  be  considered  the 
skilled  work,  —  running  such  special  machines  as  lathes,  planers,  milling 
machines,  grinders,  etc.  The  division  between  skilled  and  unskilled  work 
does  not  seem  to  be  made  on  the  basis  of  the  qualifications  of  the  worker, 
but  is  due  to  the  fact  that  some  establishments  have  found  that  boys 
from  fourteen  to  seventeen  years  old  can  do  the  same  kind  of  work 
that  is  often  performed  by  men;  hence  they  employ  a  much  larger 
percentage  of  young  workers  and  find  it  profitable  to  do  so.  Ten  of 
the  twenty-five  machine  shops  which  sent  in  formal  reports  on  appren- 
ticeship gave  from  10  to  100  apprentices  each  serving  terms  of  from 
three  to  four  years.  Fifteen  of  the  shops  reported  no  system  of  train- 
ing at  all.  Where  the  management  states  that  such  a  system  exists,  the 
training  is  limited  to  the  kind  of  work  done  in  that  particular  shop,  or, 
in  some  instances,  to  the  particular  department  or  machine  on  which  the 
young  worker  is  employed.  Even  where  the  shops  have  a  sufficiently 
broad  range  of  work  to  enable  them  to  give  the  all-round  experience 
which  is  necessary  to  make  a  first-class  machinist,  it  is  difficult  or  impos- 
sible to  maintain  such  a  system  of  training.  All  the  pressure  on  the 
foreman  and  superintendent  is  for  production,  and  when  it  is  found 
that  a  boy  is  capable  of  doing  one  job  well,  he  will  be  kept  on  the  spe- 
cialized machine  until  he  becomes  discouraged,  and  leaves.  He  may 
then  "  bluff  his  way  "  in  another  shop.  This  is  well  illustrated  by  three 
typical  expressions  of  opinion  of  apprentices,  obtained  from  a  study  of 
450  cases.  These  are  used  because  they  are  from  apprentices  in  shops 
in  which  the  management  is  making  a  special  effort  to  have  the  boys 
changed  from  machine  to  machine,  and  to  give  them  the  broadest  pos- 
sible training  to  fit  them  for  advanced  work. 

I  am  working  at  the  Company.  I  was  hired  here  with  the 

understanding  that  I  could  learn  the  machinist's  trade.  I  was  put  on  the 
gear  shaper  to  help  a  man  out  one  day  and  I  got  along  so  well,  he  said 
to  stay  a  few  days  longer.  Now  since  I  can  run  the  machine  so  well  I 
do  not  get  off  any  more.  I  have  asked  the  foreman  to  be  taken  off,  and 
he  said  he  could  not  do  so  at  present.  As  far  as  other  treatment  from 
the  foreman  I  cannot  complain.  What  I  would  like  to  get  is  a  chance, 
a  show.  —  FEB.  28,  1912. 

I  am  employed  by  the  —  -  Machine  Tool  Company.  At  the 

present  time  I  am  in  the  lathe  department  and  would  like  to  run  a  miller 
or  drill  press.  I  would  like  to  be  changed  every  year  or  year  and  a  half. 
I  never  have  much  trouble  with  the  foreman  when  I  spoil  my  work.  He 


67 

always  tells  me  where  my  weak  points  are  and  I  correct  them.  Never  have 
any  trouble  getting  a  raise.  I  have  been  working  on  the  lathe  since  I 
started  here,  and  it  will  be  two  years  and  a  half  this  month,  and  have 
only  received  three  raises.  I  will  be  satisfied  to  be  put  on  a  drill  press 
if  possible.  —  FEB.  8,  1912. 

I  have  been  employed  by  the  Company  for  about  two  years 

and  a  half  as  apprentice,  and  during  that  time  I  think  I  have  been  treated 
fair  and  square  by  both  foremen  and  employees.  This  firm  has  no  regular 
system  for  their  apprentices,  but  they  keep  a  fellow  on  one  machine  till 
he  complains;  then  he  may  get  a  change,  but  sometimes,  as  was  my  case, 
I  was  on  the  tool  grinder  close  to  nine  months,  but  most  always  he  will 
get  what  he  asks  for.  Now  this  could  be  improved  upon  by  setting  a 
regular  system,  say  four  months  on  a  machine  following  the  fellow  before 
him.  Other  conditions  in  the  shop  are  mostly  what  you  make  them.  The 
foreman  will  treat  you  right  if  you  treat  him  so.  The  only  trouble  with 
the  foremen  is  that  they  are  afraid  to  ask  for  any  tools.  —  FEB.  8,  1912. 

Furthermore,  this  system  does  not  furnish  enough  skilled  help  for 
the  trade.  The  demands  of  the  automobile  business  have  drawn  large 
numbers  away  from  the  machine  shops,  and  they  have  not  yet  been 
adequately  replaced.  Eighteen  shops  report  a  marked  scarcity  of 
skilled  labor  to  10  which  found  no  such  lack.  One  of  the  manufacturers 
felt  that  something  must  be  done  immediately  if  Massachusetts  is  to 
keep  its  place  in  industry,  since  western  cities,  notably  Cincinnati,  are 
already  taking  the  machine  trade  away  from  Massachusetts. 

* 

IV.     STUDY  OF  WORKERS  IN  THE  CONFECTIONERY  INDUSTRY. 

The  report  of  the  Minimum  Wage  Commission  on  the  candy  industry 
furnishes  nearly  all  the  material  necessary  for  conclusions  as  to  the 
need  for  part-time  schools.  A  limited  investigation  was  undertaken  to 
supplement  this  report  on  the  question  of  training  in  the  school  and  in 
the  trade,  and  to  arrive  at  some  idea  of  the  worker's  attitude  toward  the 
reduction  in  wage  that  might  be  necessary  for  part-time  school  attend- 
ance. Twenty-five  girls  who  started  to  work  in  the  candy  industry  in 
1905-06  and  20  minors  who  started  to  work  in  1910-11,  together  with 
52  members  of  the  continuation  school,  were  visited. 

According  to  the  Minimum  Wage  report,1  38.2  per  cent,  of  the 
workers  in  the  candy  industry  are  seventeen  years  of  age  or  under,  and 
71.8  per  cent.,  twenty  or  under.  That  is,  more  than  one  third  of  the 
workers  are  of  the  normal  continuation  school  age,  fourteen  to  seven- 
teen, and  nearly  three  fourths  between  fourteen  and  twenty. 

The  majority,  52.6  per  cent.,  of  the  candy  workers  are  native  born 
of  foreign  parents,  while  29.7  per  cent,  are  foreign  born.  The  Italians 
form  67.9  per  cent,  of  the  foreign  workers,  and  the  Hebrews  12.8  per 
cent.  It  is  a  much  more  distinctly  foreign  group  than  the  department- 
store  employees,  or  shoe-factory  workers. 

1  Report  of  the  Commission  on  Minimum  Wage  Boards,  p.  44. 


68 

The  small  group  investigated  shows  that  20  per  cent,  left  school  be- 
fore reaching  the  sixth  grade,  33.6  per  cent,  left  in  the  sixth  and 
seventh  grades,  while  only  21.0  per  cent,  went  into  the  ninth  grade,  and 
1  entered  the  high  school. 

TABLE  XXIII.  —  Showing  grade  of  school  left  to  enter  confectionery 
industry  (95  cases).1 


GRADE  LEFT. 

Number 
leaving. 

Per  cent, 
leaving. 

Second  

1         | 

Third,          

Fourth 

1     I 

10 

20.0 

Fifth  

7 

Sixth  

16        I 

Seventh,       

16        1 

Eighth  
Ninth, 

23 
20 

24  2 
21  0 

First  year  high  school,        

1 

1.0 

Total,    . 

95 

99.8 

1  No  data  for  2  cases. 

Moreover,  8.4  per  cent,  left  school  before  they  were  fourteen,  61.1 
per  cent,  left  between  fourteen  and  fifteen,  and  24.2  per  cent,  at  fif- 
teen, only  6.3  per  cent,  staying  in  school  until  they  were  sixteen  years 
of  age  or  over. 

TABLE  XXIV.  —  Showing  age  at  which  school  was  left  to  enter  con- 
fectionery industry  (95  cases). 


AGE. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

12  years,       

2        1 

8.4 

13  years,       

6         j 

14  years,       ....        

58 

61.1 

15  years,       .                          . 

23 

24  2 

16  years,       

5 

17  years,       

- 

6.3 

18  years,       

1 

Total  

95 

100.0 

As  a  group  they  enter  the  industry  early  and  without  the  normal 
equipment  of  education.  That  91.6  per  cent,  should  be  fourteen  or 
over  when  they  left  school,  and  only  24.2  per  cent,  should  have  reached 
the  eighth  grade,  indicates  a  group  of  girls  who  are  very  much  re- 
tarded. 


69 


TABLE  XXV.  —  Showing  length  of  period  of  retardation,  together  with 
percentage  of  those  entering  confectionery  industry  who  were  so 
retarded  (95  cases). 


YEARS  BEHIND. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

0,          

12 

12.6 

1,          

24 

25.3 

2  

20 

21.0 

3  

20 

21.0 

4  

8 

8.4 

5,           *  .... 

8 

8.4 

6  

3 

3  .  2 

Total  

95 

99.9 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  only  12.6  per  cent,  were  in  the  normal  grade 
for  their  age,  25.3  per  cent,  were  retarded  one  year,  62.0  per  cent,  two 
years  or  more,  and  20.0  per  cent,  were  retarded  four  years  or  more. 
This  means  that  the  group  is  in  general  an  inefficient  one,  an  aphorism 
perhaps,  but  worth  establishing  statistically.  This  group,  then,  needs 
part-time  schooling  for  the  removal  of  elementary  school  deficiencies. 
They  are  far  below  any  tolerable  level  of  education  and  intelligence 
for  any  group  of  citizens.  There  is  very  little  opportunity  for  actual 
trade  training  for  candy-factory  workers. 

According  to  the  Minimum  Wage  report  there  is  a  very  large  sea- 
sonal variation,  a  great  demand  for  workers  at  the  time  of  the  Christ- 
mas trade,  with  a  very  dull  season  following.1  Most  of  the  new  workers 
come  into  the  trade  at  this  time  and  are  quickly  taught  as  much  as 
they  need  to  know.  The  following  table  shows  the  method  of  learn- 
ing:— 

TABLE  XXVI.  —  Showing  methods  of  learning  in  candy  industry,  with 
percentage  so  learning  (95  cases}.2 


GROUP. 

Picked  up 
(per  cent.). 

Taught  in 
factory 
(per  cent.). 

Six  years  in  industry,          

12 

51 

One  year  in  industry,          

1 

21 

Total  

13 

72 

1  Report  of  the  Commission  on  Minimum  Wage  Boards,  p.  62. 

2  Incomplete  data  for  15  per  cent. 

Only  a  small  proportion,  13  per  cent.,  "  pick  up  "  their  trade,  and 
they  are  largely  the  workers  on  skilled  processes,  fancy  packing  and 


70 

dipping.  It  is  estimated  that  it  takes  about  six  months  to  make  an 
expert  dipper,  —  as  long  as  it  takes  to  make  a  good  shoe  stitcher  and 
much  longer  than  it  takes  to  make  a  good  buttonhole  operator.  It 
takes  from  two  to  three  months  to  make  an  expert  fancy  packer,  a 
length  of  time  sufficient  to  make  a  good  skiver.  There  are,  then,  really 
skilled  processes  in  candy  making. 

Sixty-eight  and  six  tenths  per  cent,  of  the  group  of  workers  who 
have  been  out  of  school  six  years  were  on  skilled  work,  while  15.8  per 
cent,  of  the  minors,  75  per  cent,  of  those  attending  the  continuation 
school,  were  on  skilled  work.  One  out  of  every  two  girls  who  stay  on 
in  the  industry,  then,  advance  to  skilled  work,  but  about  one  half  of 
the  girls  who  left  school  six  years  ago  to  enter  the  candy  industry 
have  left  to  be  married. 

TABLE  XXVII.  —  Showing  percentage  on  skilled  and  unskilled  work 
in  confectionery  industry  (95  cases). 


SKILLED  WORK. 

UNSKILLED  WORK. 

GROUP. 

No  data. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Six  years  in  industry, 

46 

68.6 

21 

31.3 

3 

One  year  in  industry, 

3 

15.8 

16 

84.2 

6 

There  is  not  sufficient  opportunity  in  the  trade  to  justify  training 
in  school  for  any  portion  of  it.  There  is  a  large  factory  force  with 
only  a  small  number  of  people  at  the  head,  and  the  salaries  paid  offer 
no  incentive  to  the  ambitious.  The  large  proportion  of  these  candy 
workers  marry  early,  and  are  much  more  in  need  of  sound  training 
along  the  line  of  the  relation  of  income  to  expenditure  and  scientific 
housekeeping  than  they  are  of  trade  training. 


V.  STUDY  OF  WORKERS  IN  THE  COTTON  MILLS. 
There  is  little  doubt  in  the  minds  of  those  acquainted  with  the  con- 
ditions that  more  schooling,  especially  that  of  a  practical  nature,  is 
needed  by  the  young  workers  in  our  cotton  mills.  The  establishment 
of  part-time  schools  seems  almost  imperative  when  one  considers  that 
the  large  majority  of  workers  are  of  foreign  parentage,  that  few  of 
them  have  had  schooling  of  even  grammar  school  grade,  and  that  the 
majority  of  them,  although  they  have  been  working  in  cotton  mills 
since  they  left  school  six  years  ago,  are  still  doing  unskilled  work  for 
incredibly  low  wages.  Without  training  specially  adapted  to  their 
needs,  many  of  them  can  never  hope  to  advance  so  that  they  will  be 
able  to  do  skilled  work  or  fill  positions  of  responsibility. 


71 


Nationality. 

While  a  majority  of  the  young  workers  in  cotton  mills  are  American 
born,  only  a  small  proportion  are  of  American  parentage.  For  ex- 
ample, in  Lowell,  84  per  cent,  of  the  young  workers  in  cotton  mills 
were  born  in  this  country,  but  only  5.3  per  cent,  of  these  are  of 
American  parentage.  In  New  Bedford,  only  13.4  per  cent,  of  the  75.8 
per  cent,  of  American  birth  have  parents  who  were  born  here.  These 
percentages  are  undoubtedly  too  large,  as  few  of  those  of  foreign  birth 
could  be  traced  to  their  homes,  owing  to  the  fact  that  there  are  large 
numbers  of  the  same  name.  To-day  Portuguese,  Italians,  Poles,  Greeks 
and  Syrians  are  just  beginning  to  make  their  numbers  felt  in  the  in- 
dustry. 

Schooling. 

These  workers  have  not  received  much  schooling.  Although  most  of 
them  have  spent  the  normal  amount  of  time  attending  school,  they 
have  accomplished  relatively  little  in  that  time.  A  large  majority,  80.3 
per  cent.,  left  school  at  fourteen,  only  19.3  per  cent,  remaining  in  school 
until  fifteen  or  older.  Of  all  those  investigated,  72.8  per  cent,  did  not  get 
through  the  seventh  grade,  24.5  per  cent,  left  the  eighth  or  ninth  grades 
and  only  2.7  per  cent,  graduated  from  grammar  school  and  began  the 
high  school  course. 

TABLE  XXVIII.  —  Showing  number  and  percentage  of  textile  workers 
leaving  different  grades  of  school  (478  cases  in  Fall  Biver,  New 
Bedford  and  Lowell. 


GRADE  LEFT. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

First  to  fifth  

150 

31.4 

Sixth  to  seventh,         

198 

41.4 

Eighth,         

66 

13.8 

Ninth  

51 

10.7 

Beyond,        

13 

2.7 

Total  

478 

100.0 

Who  will  claim  that  the  education  given  in  the  first  seven  grades  of 
our  public  schools  will  enable  an  average  boy  to  enter  a  cotton  mill 
and  by  dint  of  perseverance  reach  a  position  sufficiently  responsible  to 
command  respectable  wages  after  spending  six  or  seven  years  in  the 
mills? 

Only  19.5  per  cent,  of  the  271  workers  in  Fall  River  and  New  Bedford 
for  whom  we  have  data  were  in  the  grade  they  should  have  been,  or 
ahead  of  it,  according  to  the  number  of  years  they  had  attended  school. 


72 


TABLE    XXIX.  —  Showing    retardation    of    adult    and    minor    textile 
workers  by  sex  (271  cases  in  Fall  Eiver  and  New  Bedford}. 


YEARS  RETARDED. 

GROUP  IN  INDUSTRY 

six  YEARS  (ADULTS). 

GROUP  IN  INDUSTRY 
ONE  YEAR   (MINORS). 

Total. 

Total 
per  cent. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

1  

21 

20 

6 

9 

56 

20.7 

2,     .... 

27 

23 

10 

5 

65 

24.0 

3  

27 

25 

6 

15 

73 

26.9 

4,     .... 

20 

16 

8 

2 

46 

16.9 

5,     .... 

8 

15 

1 

4 

28 

10.3 

6  

- 

- 

1 

1 

2 

.7 

7  
Total, 

- 

- 

- 

1 

1 

.4 

103 

99 

32 

37 

271 

99.9 

Of  those  retarded,  55.2  per  cent,  were  three  or  more  years  behind 
the  grade  in  which  they  should  have  been  according  to  the  number  of 
years  they  had  attended  school,  and  11.4  per  cent,  were  retarded  from 
five  to  seven  years.  Barely  27.5  per  cent,  of  those  in  Fall  River  and 
New  Bedford  who  had  been  out  of  school  six  years,  and  only  20  per 
cent,  of  those  in  these  cities  who  had  been  out  of  school  one  year,  had 
attended  evening  school.  Illiteracy  in  the  older  group  accounts  for  the 
larger  percentage  which  had  attended  night  schools. 

It  can  be  clearly  seen  from  the  backwardness  of  the  group  in  school 
and  from  the  small  number  attending  evening  schools  that  these  work- 
ers are  in  dire  need  of  further  education,  and  that  such  education  must 
be  imparted  during  the  clay,  as  they  are  much  too  weary  at  night  to 
profit  by  instruction. 

Time  spent  at  Home. 

A  number  of  the  boys  and  girls  who  left  school  six  years  ago  had 
spent  from  several  months  to  four  years  of  that  time  at  home. 

TABLE  XXX.  —  Showing  number  and  percentage  of  textile  workers  who 
spent  different  periods  of  time  at  home  before  entering  industry.1 


YEARS  AT  HOME. 

Boys. 

Per  cent. 

Girls. 

Per  cent. 

Total. 

None,  . 

Ill 

87.3 

61 

53 

172 

0  to  1  

12 

9.4 

39 

33.9 

51 

1  to  2  

3 

2.4 

10 

8.7 

13 

2  to  3  

_ 

_ 

3       1 

f 

3 

I 

40     j 

3  to  4,  

1 

.8 

2       I 

\ 

3 

Total  

127 

99.9 

1152 

99.9 

242 

Based  on  Fall  River  and  New  Bedford  returns  only  for  those  who  left  school  six  years  ago. 
2  Does  not  include  13  who  married. 


73 

While  9.4  per  cent,  of  the  boys  had  lost  from  several  months  to  a 
year,  33.9  per  cent,  of  the  girls  had  spent  this  amount  of  time  at  home. 
Three  and  two  tenths  per  cent,  of  the  boys  and  13  per  cent,  of  the 
girls  who  had  not  married  had  lost  from  one  to  four  years. 

The  data  collected  for  the  478  cases  in  the  three  cities  studied  shows 
that  of  those  who  had  been  out  of  school  but  one  year,  44  per  cent, 
were  on  skilled  work  and  52.4  per  cent,  of  the  younger  girls  were  doing 
skilled  work,  as  opposed  to  30.2  per  cent,  of  the  boys,  while  only  55 
per  cent,  of  the  boys  and  73.4  per  cent,  of  the  girls  who  had  been  in 
the  cotton  mills  six  years  were  on  skilled  processes,  thus  showing  how 
much  advancement  is  made  during  the  first  year  at  work  as  compared 
with  that  made  during  six  years  in  the  industry.  To  advance  in  the 
industry,  70.3  per  cent,  of  those  leaving  school  six  years  ago  found 
it  necessary  to  go  to  another  mill.  Only  21.5  per  cent,  were  able  to 
advance  without  leaving,  and  8.1  per  cent,  alone  could  advance  more 
than  one  step  in  the  same  mill.  Of  those  leaving  school  one  year 
ago,  77.4  per  cent,  remained  at  the  same  job,  19  per  cent,  advanced 
one  step  in  the  same  mill  and  3.6  per  cent,  were  promoted  twice. 

A  large  amount  of  shifting  would  probably  be  obviated  if  these  work- 
ers could  attend  part-time  schools  during  their  first  years  at  work. 
At  present,  when  a  worker  wants  to  advance  he  usually  finds  the  way 
blocked  in  the  mill  in  which  he  happens  to  be  employed  because  those 
in  authority  do  not  consider  him  competent.  As  a  result  the  boy  leaves 
and  seeks  a  chance  to  try  himself  out  on  a  better  job  in  another  mill, 
and  in  so  doing  he  may  injure  both  machinery  and  material.  If  part- 
time  schools  were  established  so  that  workers  could  have  an  oppor- 
tunity to  learn  more  of  the  industry,  they  would  probably  find  their 
foremen  more  willing  to  advance  them  where  promotion  is  possible, 
and  thus  greatly  diminish  the  amount  of  shifting  and  time  lost. 

Wages. 

A  majority,  71.8  per  cent.,  of  those  who  had  been  at  work  six  years 
were  still  earning  between  $6  and  $10  a  week;  20.1  per  cent,  were 
earning  between  $10  and  $15  a  week,  while  only  .99  per  cent,  were 
making  $15  or  more.  More  than  three  fourths,  77.6  per  cent,  of  those 
who  had  been  at  work  only  one  year,  were  earning  between  $6  and 
$10,  while  12.9  per  cent,  were  getting  between  $3  and  $6. 

The  workers  are  deeply  impressed  by  the  small  opportunity  of  reach- 
ing a  good  position  in  the  cotton  mills  through  their  own  efforts,  and 
therefore  they  are  much  interested  in  the  thought  of  part-time  schools. 
There  are  two  reasons  for  this  interest.  A  majority  of  these  young 
workers,  54.1  per  cent.,  would  welcome  a  chance  to  take  up  other 
lines  of  work  offering  fair  opportunities,  and  part-time  schools  which 
offer  instruction  in  various  trades  would  be  of  great  help  to  them. 
Others  who  expect  to  remain  in  the  mills  would  receive  much  benefit 
if  they  could  have  instruction  in  the  cotton  industry  and  the  manu- 


74 


facture  of  cloth.  Thus  part-time  schools  would  serve  two  purposes 
for  the  young  workers  in  cotton  mills.  Courses  of  instruction  in  the 
cotton  industry  should  be  offered  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  expect 
to  remain  in  the  mills,  and  thus  increase  their  efficiency  and  enable 
them  to  advance.  In  addition,  courses  should  be  offered  for  those  who 
want  to  become  machinists,  carpenters,  plumbers,  shoemakers,  dress- 
makers, milliners,  or  to  enter  business.  Besides  these  trade-training 
courses,  instruction  should  be  given  to  increase  the  general  knowledge 
of  these  workers,  and  thus  make  them  better  citizens. 

VI.    STUDY  OF  YOUNG  WORKERS  IN  THE  BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY. 

Young  workers  in  the  boot  and  shoe  industry  are  in  need  of  some 
form  of  schooling  which  will  make  it  possible  for  them  to  overcome 
the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  their  advancement.  The  factories  need 
more  efficient  workmen,  who  understand  more  than  one  department. 
If  they  can  acquire  some  knowledge  of  commercial  arithmetic,  methods 
of  figuring  costs,  and  of  factory  organization  they  will  possibly  be 
in  line  for  promotion  to  positions  as  foremen  and  superintendents. 

The  workers  in  the  shoe  factories  are  more  largely  American  than 
those  in  the  mill  industries,  as  shown  by  the  following  table :  — 

TABLE  XXXI.  —  Showing  nativity  and  parentage  of  workers  in  shoe 
industry  who  were  out  of  school  six  years  (151  cases). 


BOSTON. 

BROCKTON. 

LYNN. 

TOTAL. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 

cent. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

151  cases:  — 

Native  born, 

49 

96 

41 

85 

32 

62 

122 

80.8 

Foreign  born, 
Total, 

2 

4 

7 

15 

20 

38 

29 

19.2 

51 

100 

48 

100 

52 

100 

151 

100.0 

128  cases:  i  — 

Native  parents,     . 

10 

25 

12 

25 

22 

43 

44 

31.0 

Foreign  parents,    . 
Total, 

30 

75 

25 

75 

29 

67 

84 

69.0 

40 

100 

37 

100 

51 

100 

128 

100.0 

1  Complete  data  could  be  secured  for  only  this  number. 


75 


TABLE  XXXII.  —  Showing  nativity  and  parentage  of  workers  in  shoe 
industry  who  had  been  out  of  school  one  year  (86  cases). 


BOSTON. 

BROCKTON. 

LYNN. 

TOTAL. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 

cent. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

86  cases:  — 
Native  born, 

27 

90 

26 

89.0 

24 

89 

77 

89 

Foreign  born, 
Total, 

3 

10 

3 

11.0 

3 

11 

9 

11 

30 

100 

29 

100.0 

27 

100 

86 

100 

78  cases:1  — 

Native  parents, 

6 

24 

10 

37.5 

10 

37 

26 

28 

Foreign  parents,    . 
Total, 

19 

76 

16 

62.5 

17 

63 

52 

72 

25 

100 

26 

100.0 

27 

100 

78 

100 

1  Complete  data  available  for  only  this  number. 

In  Lynn,  38  per  cent,  of  those  who  had  been  in  the  industry  six 
years  were  foreign  born.  In  Brockton  and  Boston  together,  only  19 
per  cent,  were  foreign  born.  Lynn  undoubtedly  represents  more 
correctly  the  truth  of  the  situation  for  the  whole  industry.  It  is  prob- 
able that  the  figures  in  the  above  tables  which  indicate  the  total  num- 
ber of  American  born  in  both  groups  are  much  too  high  an  estimate 
for  the  industry  as  a  whole.  The  groups  in  Brockton  and  Boston 
represent  a  somewhat  selected  group  from  the  point  of  view  of  nation- 
ality because  the  names  were  taken  from  the  age  and  schooling  certifi- 
cates. In  Lynn  this  material  was  not  available,  so  a  group  was  selected 
from  the  factories,  made  up  of  those  who  began  their  industrial  career 
in  the  shoe  factory  at  fourteen  years  of  age  and  who  had  been  at 
work  from  five  to  seven  years.  Since  the  names  were  not  taken  from 
the  age  and  schooling  certificates  it  did  not  always  happen  that  they 
had  been  to  school  in  Lynn.  It  was  to  be  expected,  therefore,  that 
this  group  would  show  a  larger  percentage  of  foreign-born  workers 
than  was  found  in  the  other  groups. 

Of  the  American  born,  only  31  per  cent,  were  born  of  American 
parents.  These  were  largely  workers  who  came  from  Maine,  New 
Hampshire  and  Vermont,  and  from  the  outlying  towns  in  the  shoe 
districts  of  Massachusetts.  In  the  cities  themselves,  the  workers  of 
American  parentage  usually  try  to  obtain  work  at  higher  wages  or 
with  a  larger  future  than  the  shoe  factory  offers.  Among  the  city  born 
it  is  the  second  generation  of  Irish,  French,  English  and  German  which 
predominates  in  the  industry,  —  Irish  in  Boston,  Swedes  in  Brockton, 
French  and  Germans  in  Lynn  and  Russians  everywhere.  The  Italians, 
Greeks  and  Poles  are  newcomers  in  the  industry,  only  a  few  of  them 


76 


could  be  reached  through  the  age  and  schooling  certificates,  which  indi- 
cates that  they  have  received  very  little  schooling  in  America;  conse- 
quently, they  are  not  proportionately  represented  in  these  tables;  yet 
these  returns  undoubtedly  indicate  the  true  state  of  affairs.  There  is  a 
large  group  of  workers  of  American  birth  and  American  parentage, 
unusually  large  for  a  factory  industry.  It  is  to  be  expected,  therefore, 
that  there  will  not  be  so  great  a  need  for  the  removal  of  elementary 
school  deficiencies.  That  this  is  the  case  is  shown  by  the  following 
tables :  — 

TABLE  XXXIII.  —  Showing  percentage  of  shoe  workers  leaving  differ- 
ent grades  of  school  (245  cases}. 


GRADE  LEFT. 

Group 
in  industry 
six  years 
(per  cent.). 

Group 
in  industry 
one  year 
(per  cent.). 

Total  group 
(per  cent.). 

Below  sixth,  

13.5 

12.5 

10.2 

Sixth,     .        
Seventh,        

12.5 
18.4 

12.5 
20.0 

14.3 
17.3 

Eighth,           . 

26.8 

20.0 

25.3 

Ninth  
High  school,           

22.2 
6.6 

20.0 
15.0 

23.2 
9.7 

Total,       

100.0 

100.0 

100.0 

TABLE  XXXIV.  —  Showing  age  at  which  shoe  workers  left  school  to 
enter  industry  (245  cases). 


AGE. 

GROUP  IN  INDUSTRY 
SIX  YEARS. 

GROUP  IN  INDUSTRY 
ONE  YEAR. 

Total 
group. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

12  years,      

2 

1.2 

- 

- 

2 

13  years,      

4 

2.6 

- 

- 

4 

14  years,      

90 

57.3 

46 

52.3 

136 

15  years  

54 

34.4 

34 

38.7 

88 

16  years,      

7 

4.5 

6 

6.8 

13 

17  years,     
Total  

- 

- 

2 

2.2 

2 

157 

100.0 

88 

100.0 

245 

Of  the  whole  group  investigated,  48.5  per  cent,  left  in  the  eighth 
or  ninth  grade,  —  25.3  per  cent,  in  the  eighth  and  23.2  per  cent,  in 
the  ninth.  It  is  true  that  10.2  per  cent,  did  not  reach  the  sixth  grade, 
but  9.7  per  cent.,  nearly  one  tenth  of  the  total,  entered  high  school. 
This  indicates  a  fair  elementary  education  for  the  group. 


77 


The  young  people  who  go  into  the  shoe  factories  are  typical  of  the 
whole  group  not  effectively  reached  by  the  regular  school.  For  the 
whole  group,  87.1  per  cent,  are  retarded  one  year  or  more,  and  12.9 
per  cent,  four  years  or  more. 

TABLE  XXXV.  —  Showing  retardation  in  school  of  workers  icho  entered 
shoe  industry  (171  cases}. 


Group 

GROUP  IX  INDUSTRY   ONE   YEAR. 

YEARS  RETARDED. 

in  industry 
six  years. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Total. 

Total. 

1  

44                     12 

9 

21 

| 
65 

2,         

2S                       6 

4 

10 

38 

3  

39 

2 

5 

7 

46 

4  

10 

2 

3 

5 

15 

5  

2 

2 

_ 

2 

4 

6  

2 

1 

- 

1          !!           3 

Total  

125 

25 

21 

46 

171 

The  27.8  per  cent,  who  are  even  with  or  ahead  of  the  grade  in  which 
they  should  have  been,  according  to  the  number  of  years  they  had 
attended  school,  seems  a  small  proportion,  but  it  is  larger  than  it  is  in 
the  cotton  mills  or  candy  factories.  While  the  educational  status  of 
this  group  does  not  seem  very  good,  it  is  exceptional  in  comparison 
with  the  other  industries.  Yet  it  may  easily  be  seen  that  these  young 
people  have  not  had  enough  schooling  to  make  them  very  efficient 
foremen  or  forewomen. 

As  a  group  they  are  ambitious;  26.1  per  cent,  of  the  twenty  to 
twenty-one  year  old  workers,  and  31.8  per  cent,  of  those  who  had  been 
at  work  one  year,  had  attended  night  school.  If  from  one  fourth  to 
one  third  make  the  effort  to  go  to  night  school  after  a  long  day  in 
the  factory,  it  is  only  fair  to  expect  that  from  one  third  to  one  half 
would  go  to  a  part-time  school.  Thus  the  material  with  which  a  part- 
time  school  would  have  to  deal  in  the  shoe  industry  is  good.  The 
group  has  a  fair  education,  is  not  abnormally  dull,  as  measured  by 
the  regular  school  standards,  and  is  ambitious  enough  to  take  advan- 
tage of  offered  opportunities.  They  need  some  training  to  show  them 
the  relation  between  their  school  knowledge  and  the  problems  of  their 
industry. 

Much  more  needed,  however,  is  some  wider  knowledge  of  the  trade 
itself,  and  a  reform  in  the  method  of  teaching  separate  jobs.  It  is 
unusual  in  a  shoe  factory  for  a  man  to  know  more  than  one  good 
job.  If  the  work  is  short  in  his  own  shop,  he  has  only  one  specialty 
to  offer  in  his  search  for  work.  If  his  shop  is  overcrowded  in  other 
departments,  he  may  and  often  does  have  to  sit  idle  at  his  machine 


78 


while  other  people  work  overtime.  Lack  of  a  sufficiently  wide  knowl- 
edge of  the  industry  makes  it  impossible  to  move  freely  from  the 
factory  in  which  there  are  too  many  to  the  one  where  there  are  too 
few. 

Some  reform  in  the  method  of  teaching  the  trade  is  desirable.  At 
present  27.7  per  cent.  "  pick  up  "  their  trade,  while  68  per  cent,  are 
taught  in  the  factory.  Teaching  in  the  factory  means  one  thing  in 
Boston  and  another  in  Lynn  and  in  Brockton.  In  Boston,  a  boy  is  set 
deliberately,  to  learn  a  job;  in  Lynn  and  Brockton,  if  he  takes  ad- 
vantage of  his  many  opportunities  to  "  do  a  good  turn  "  for  the  men 
at  their  machines  while  he  is  working  around  the  room,  they  will 
return  the  favor  by  showing  him,  in  odd  moments,  how  the  machine 
works,  and  occasionally  letting  him  try  to  run  it.  It  is  a  rare  thing 
for  a  foreman,  or  any  one  in  authority,  to  teach  a  young  worker  in 
Lynn  and  Brockton,  more  rare  in  Brockton  than  in  Lynn.  The  pro- 
portion who  learn  outside  of  the  factory  is  negligibly  small.  Girls 
have  an  easier  time,  in  that  they  are  given  an  opportunity  to  learn, 
at  one  time  or  another,  everything  which  they  cannot  learn  by  watch- 
ing. The  result  of  the  restricted  opportunities  for  men  is  that  they 
half  learn  a  job  in  one  shop  and  then  go  on  to  another  to  work  at  it. 
In  their  own  shop  they  would  have  little  chance. 

TABLE  XXXVI.  —  Showing  number  of  changes  of  occupation  within 
this  industry  made  by  shoe  workers  in  six  years  (153  cases}. 


CHANGES. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

None  

91 

59.0 

One  

48 

31.4 

Two  

5        1 

Three  

7         1 

9.6 

Four  

2        j 

Total,    

153 

100  0 

Fifty-nine  per  cent,  were  not  able  to  advance  in  the  factory;  31.4 
per  cent,  were  able  to  advance  one  step  without  changing  factories, 
while  only  9.6  per  cent,  were  able  to  advance  more  than  one  step. 
This  statement  is  based  on  the  assumption  that  a  change  of  job  within 
the  factory  means  an  advance,  —  which  is  true  in  the  vast  majority  of 
cases. 

Another  result  is  that  they  are  forced  to  stay  on  unskilled  work 
longer  than  their  age  requires,  because  they  do  not  have  a  fair  oppor- 
tunity to  learn  to  do  skilled  work.  In  Boston,  where  there  is  con- 
siderable freedom  in  teaching,  60  per  cent,  go  on  to  a  skilled  operation 


79 

in  two  years  or  less;  in  Lynn,  which  comes  next  in  opportunity,  51 
per  cent,  are  on  skilled  work  in  that  time,  while  in  Brockton,  where 
the  opportunities  for  learning  are  very  restricted,  only  38  per  cent, 
get  on  to  a  skilled  job  in  less  than  two  years.  Of  the  whole  group 
which  had  been  out  of  school  six  years,  only  43  per  cent,  were  on 
skilled  work.  Of  those  in  Lynn  whose  last  job  in  the  shoe  factory 
was  on  unskilled  work,  65.3  per  cent.,  and  63  per  cent,  in  Brockton  were 
on  unskilled  work  for  four  years  or  more;  while  in  Boston  only  10.5 
per  cent,  were  on  unskilled  work  more  than  four  years.  Apparently 
in  Boston,  if  they  do  not  get  on  to  skilled  work  after  a  few  years,  they 
get  out  of  the  industry,  while  in  Brockton  and  Lynn,  where  other 
opportunities  are  few,  they  stay  on. 

The  shifting  from  factory  to  factory  may  be  described  as  follows: 
in  Boston  88.7  per  cent,  of  the  workers  who  had  been  out  of  school 
six  years  had  not  shifted  at  all;  in  Brockton  32.2  per  cent,  and  in 
Lynn  27.2  per  cent,  had  not  shifted  at  all;  but  in  Boston  49.2  per 
cent,  had  worked  in  the  shoe  industry  one  year  or  less,  while  in  Brock- 
ton 15.1  per  cent,  and  in  Lynn  9.1  per  cent,  had  worked  in  the  shoe 
industry  one  year  or  less.  (The  Lynn  figures  are  not  safe  on  account 
of  the  method  of  selecting.)  In  Boston,  then,  the  workers  either  stay 
in  the  same  factory  or  leave  the  industry  entirely.  Of  course,  until 
recently  there  have  not  been  many  shoe  factories  in  Boston,  so  that 
the  worker  could  not  wander  from  one  to  another.  Those  who  have 
worked  one  year  are  not  "  shifters."  In  Boston  only  2  of  this  group 
had  shifted  at  all;  in  Brockton  only  3,  while  in  Lynn  4  —  more  than 
half  —  had  shifted.  Only  2,  however,  had  shifted  more  than  once. 
This  shifting  is  not  the  casual  thing  which  is  to  be  found  in  so  many 
of  the  monotonous  industries;  31.3  per  cent,  were  forced  to  shift, 
either  because  the  work  was  slack  or  because  they  were  "  fired,"  or 
because  they  were  ill;  28.7  per  cent,  shifted  to  advance.  Only  19.9  per 
cent,  shifted  because  they  "  didn't  like  it,"  the  reason  given  by  the 
professional  "  shifter." 

While  advancement  in  the  trade  is  difficult  for  the  native  group, 
or  for  those  who  have  attachments  in  the  shoe  city,  it  is  easy  for  the 
rover  and  the  foreigner.  The  rover  can  go  to  some  nonunion  city  or 
town  and  learn  his  trade  there;  when  he  comes  back  with  a  knowledge 
of  the  trade  he  is  admitted  to  the  union  without  much  question.  The 
foreigner  is  willing  to  accept  shop  conditions  which  are  intolerable 
to  a  person  who  has  some  standards  of  decency.  He  can  often  get 
the  training  in  the  one  or  two  nonunion  shops  existing  in  every  union 
city,  and,  when  he  has  acquired  his  knowledge,  he  is  admitted  to  the 
union.  It  is  the  young  boy  who  lives  at  home  and  who  would  not  stand 
the  conditions  in  the  "  scab  "  shop  who  loses  out  on  this  method.  Even 
when  he  learns  his  job  he  does  not  learn  anything  about  the  machine 
which  he  operates.  He  can  run  it,  and  that  is  all. 


80 


In  order  to  teach  more  economically,  to  give  native  workers  a  fair 
chance  in  the  industry,  to  increase  the  supply  of  heads  of  rooms  and 
superintendents,  and  to  furnish  sufficient  training  for  the  free  exer- 
cise of  whatever  inventive  talent  these  workers  may  have,  some  form 
of  industrial  training  is  necessary. 

So  far  as  money  is  concerned,  the  workers  in  this  trade  are  pros- 
perous. More  than  one  fourth,  28.5  per  cent.,  of  the  workers  who 
had  been  in  the  industry  more  than  six  years  get  between  $15  and  $20 
a  week,  and  more  than  one  half  get  between  $12  and  $20  a  week, 
while  7.9  per  cent,  get  over  $20. 

TABLE  XXXVII.  —  Showing  wage  received  by  shoe  ivorkers  after  six 
years  in  industry  in  three  different  cities  (141  cases}. 


WAGE. 

LYNN. 

BROCKTON. 

BOSTON. 

TOTAL. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Under  88, 

2 

3.8 

3 

7.3 

7 

14.9 

12 

8.5 

$8  to    $9.99,     . 

9 

16.9 

8 

19.5 

5 

10.6 

22 

15.7 

$10  to  $11.99,     . 

6 

11.3 

6 

14.7 

7 

14.9 

19 

13.7 

$12  to  $14.99,     . 

11 

20.7 

15 

36.5 

11 

23.4 

37 

25.7 

$15  to  $19.99,     . 

17 

32.0 

9 

21.9 

14 

29.8 

40 

28.5 

Over  $20,  .... 
Total, 

8 

15.2 

- 

- 

3 

6.4 

11 

7.9 

53 

99.9 

41 

99.9 

47 

100.0 

141 

100.0 

Lynn  ranks  highest  in  wages  paid  young  workers,  Boston  comes  next, 
and  Brockton  is  lowest.  In  Lynn,  47.2  per  cent,  get  over  $15  a  week ;  in 
Boston,  36.2  per  cent.;  and  in  Brockton,  21.9  per  cent,  receive  over  $15 
a  week.  In  Lynn,  15.2  per  cent,  get  more  than  $20  per  week ;  in  Boston, 
6.4  per  cent.;  and  in  Brockton,  none  receive  more  than  $20.  In  Lynn, 
only  3.8  per  cent,  are  getting  less  than  $8  a  week;  in  Brockton,  7.3 
per  cent.;  and  in  Boston,  14.9  per  cent,  are  receiving  less  than  that. 
In  Brockton  this  is  doubtless  due  to  the  restrictions  which  prevent  the 
young  worker  from  advancing,  and  in  Boston  it  is  probably  due  to 
the  fact  that  the  general  level  of  wages  in  the  shoe  industry  is  low. 
These  figures  are  for  the  whole  group,  regardless  of  whether  the  mem- 
bers are  now  in  the  shoe  industry  or  not. 


81 


TABLE  XXXVIII.  —  Showing  increases  in  wage  over  initial  wage  among 
shoe  workers  after  one  year  in  industry  (64  cases). 


WAGE  INCREASE. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Total. 

Per  cent. 

Less  than  beginning,        

2 

- 

2 

3.1 

Beginning  wage  

10 

18 

28 

43.7 

$1  

9 

4 

13 

20.3 

12  

3 

6 

9 

14.1 

$3  

2 

4 

6 

9.4 

$4  

- 

5 

5 

7.8 

$6  

1 

- 

1 

1.6 

Total  

27 

37 

64 

100.0 

TABLE  XXXIX.  —  Showing  increase  in  wage  over  initial  wage  among 
shoe  workers  after  six  years  in  industry  (102  cases). 


WAGE  INCREASE. 

LYNN. 

BROCKTON. 

BOSTON. 

TOTAL. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Less  than  initial  wage, 

2 

4.1 

2 

6.2 

1 

4.8 

5 

4.9 

$1  to    $3,          ... 

7 

14.3 

4 

12.5 

2 

9.5 

13 

12.7 

$4  to    $6, 

11 

22.4 

14 

43.8 

1 

4.8 

26 

25.5 

$7  to  $10, 

14 

28.6 

6 

18.8 

i 

28.6 

26 

25.5 

$11  to  $13, 

5 

10.2 

5 

15.6 

6 

28.6 

16 

15.7 

$14  to  $16, 

8 

16.3 

1 

3.1 

3 

14.2 

12 

11.8 

Over  $16  
Total, 

2 

4.1 

- 

- 

2 

9.5 

4 

3.9 

49 

100.0 

32 

100.0 

21 

100.0 

102 

100.0 

These  tables  show  an  early  advance  to  high  earnings.  In  Brockton 
only  37.5  per  cent,  had  increased  their  wage  more  than  $7  over  their 
beginning  wage;  in  Lynn,  59.2  per  cent.;  and  in  Boston  80.9  per  cent, 
had  done  this.  In  Boston,  if  advance  were  impossible  they  left  the 
trade;  in  Lynn  they  had  advanced,  but  in  Brockton  a  large  proportion 
had  not. 


82 


TABLE  XL.  —  Showing  wages  received  in  shoe  industry  after  one  year 
of  service  (based  on  data  of  83  cases). 


WAGE  RECEIVED. 

Number 
of  workers. 

Per  cent, 
of  workers. 

S3  to  $4  

11 

13.2 

$4  to  $5  

15 

18.1 

$5  to  $6  

20 

24.1 

$6  to  $7  

14 

16.9 

$7  to  $8  

12 

14.5 

$8  to  $9  

4 

4.8 

Over  $9,       

7 

8.4 

Total  

83 

100.0 

In  less  than  a  year  27.7  per  cent,  were  earning  $7  or  more,  but  the 
majority  were  earning  less  than  $6.  The  wages  in  the  shoe  industry 
are  high  enough  to  content  more  than  one  half  of  the  workers.  Fifty- 
nine  and  six  tenths  per  cent,  were  satisfied  to  stay  in  the  shoe  in- 
dustry, 37.6  per  cent,  did  not  care  for  any  change  of  employment 
within  the  industry,  and  22  per  cent,  wanted  to  learn  some  good  job  in 
the  shoe  business.  In  Boston,  only  5  wanted  to  learn  another  job  in 
the  shoe  trade ;  in  Brockton,  12,  a'nd  in  Lynn,  14,  desired  to  do  this,  — 
a  sequence  which  again  corresponds  with  the  opportunities  in  these 
cities.  In  Boston  the  young  men  aspire  to  18  different  trades,  in 
Brockton  to  10  and  in  Lynn  to  8.  Those  in  Lynn  and  Brockton  tended 
toward  other  work  with  the  hands,  desiring  to  become  electricians, 
mechanics,  carpenters,  etc.  Those  in  Boston,  because  of  the  varied 
opportunities,  had  ambitions  equally  varied,  some  aspiring  to  be  window 
dressers,  buyers,  physical  directors,  etc.  Of  those,  who  had  been  at 
work  one  year  32.6  per  cent,  of  the  girls  wanted  to  learn  another  job 
in  the  shoe  trade,  24.4  per  cent,  wanted  to  go  into  business,  to  learn 
typewriting,  stenography  or  bookkeeping,  while  20.4  per  cent,  were 
satisfied  as  they  were.  Of  the  boys,  only  18.4  per  cent,  wanted  to  learn 
some  other  job  in  the  shoe  trade,  9.2  per  cent,  wanted  to  go  into 
business  as  clerks  or  bookkeepers,  9.2  per  cent,  wanted  to  become  elec- 
tricians, machinists,  tool  makers  or  printers.  The  rest  were  scattered, 
some  desiring  to  be  farmers,  waiters,  plumbers,  designers,  chauffeurs, 
etc.,  while  a  few  wished  to  go  to  college. 

Many  have  not  been  content  merely  to  want  to  make  a  change.  Of 
the  twenty  to  twenty-one  year  old  group,  29  from  Boston,  55  per  cent., 
had  already  left  the  industry,  and  12,  or  24  per  cent.,  in  Brockton  had 
done  this.  For  Lynn  there  are  no  data,  but  it  is  not  likely  that  the 
percentage  would  be  higher  than  for  Brockton.  This,  too,  indicates 


83 

that  in  Boston,  where  the  opportunities  are  many,  the  worker  who  does 
not  like  shoe  work,  or  who  does  not  get  on,  leaves  the  industry.  That 
he  does  not  do  as  well  as  the  one  who  stays  on  is  shown  by  the  table 
which  includes  his  wages,  bringing  Boston  down. 

The  investigation  has  shown  that  the  shoe-factory  workers  are,  as 
a  group,  intelligent  and  well  educated  enough  to  profit  by  part-time 
schooling;  that  they  are  in  need  of  systematic  training  in  their  trade, 
and  that  those  who  are  dissatisfied  with  the  lack  of  opportunities  to 
get  out  of  it  are,  as  a  group,  interested  in  advancing.  It  has  further 
shown  that  the  wages  are  high,  and  that  it  is  therefore  a  trade  which 
should  be  encouraged  bv  the  State. 


84 


APPENDIX  D 


APPRENTICESHIP. 

I.  Is  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  AN  APPRENTICESHIP  SYSTEM  PRACTI- 
CABLE ? 

Trades  and  occupations  were  formerly  so  organized  that  the  indi- 
vidual worker  was  obliged  to  have  a  knowledge  of  the  whole  in  order 
to  succeed.  This  resulted  in  a  system  of  training  known  as  apprentice- 
ship, which  gave  to  the  worker  a  knowledge  of  every  part  of  the 
trade  he  intended  to  practice.  In  most  cases,  the  master,  with  one  or 
more  apprentices,  formed  an  independent  unit  of  production.  As 
time  went  on,  these  small  units  combined,  and  production  on  large 
scale,  with  extreme  division  of  labor,  has  gradually  resulted.  This 
condition  makes  it  no  longer  imperative  that  the  individual  worker, 
in  order  to  earn  a  living,  have  a  knowledge  of  more  than  one  portion 
of  the  business.  Where  it  formerly  required  an  extensive  period  of 
training,  from  three  to  seven  years,  for  a  man  to  gain  enough  expe- 
rience to  become  an  independent  worker,  it  may  now  require  only  a 
few  days  or  weeks  to  learn  one  operation  on  a  highly  specialized 
machine.  Formerly  there  was,  as  a  rule,  one  apprentice  or  helper  for 
every  mature  worker,  who  was  responsible  for  his  training.  Modern 
conditions  have  practically  eliminated  the  helper  system,  and  where 
young  people  are  employed  it  is  either  as  independent  workers  in  large 
groups  responsible  to  one  man,  or  as  helpers  to  individuals  on  spe- 
cialized employment.  In  either  case,  these  young  people  come  in  con- 
tact with  only  a  small  portion  of  the  business,  and  no  one  is  directly  re- 
sponsible for  their  training.  While  the  older  system  of  apprenticeship 
was  probably  adequate  to  former  industrial  conditions,  it  would  be 
wholly  inadequate  to-day,  besides  being  a  wasteful  method  of  training. 
Men  who  know  the  whole  business  are  fast  disappearing,  and  complete 
industries  cannot  be  learned  from  one  man,  but  must  be  learned  from 
several.  Rule-of-thumb  methods  have  been  superseded  by  scientific 
methods,  which  make  technical  knowledge  an  absolute  necessity  for 
promotion. 

To-day  two  types  of  workers  are  found,  those  with  little  initiative 

or  little  opportunity,  who  remain  on  unskilled  jobs  at  low  pay,  and 

those  with  more   force,   or  perhaps   better   opportunity,   who   become 

so-called  skilled  operatives.     In  one  group  studied   (see  page  51),  42 

' 


85 

per  cent.,  or  nearly  half,  of  those  who  have  been  at  work  for  six  years, 
and  are  now  twenty  to  twenty-one  years  old,  are  still  employed  on 
unskilled  work  at  a  low  wage,  while  the  remaining  58  per  cent,  are 
working  on  what  are  considered  skilled  operations.  Given  the  right 
opportunity  and  training,  a  young  man  can  generally  reach  his  maxi- 
mum of  speed  and  skill  on  a  special  operation  at  nineteen  or  earlier. 
The  result  is  that  about  one  half  of  the  young  workers  become  dis- 
couraged because  of  the  lack  of  an  opportunity  to  advance,  and  the 
rest,  satisfied  with  a  comparatively  good  wage,  have  their  ambition  and 
development  arrested  at  too  early  a  period  in  their  lives,  either  for 
their  own  good  or  for  the  good  of  the  industry.  In  either  case,  they 
have  little  opportunity  to  get  the  all-round  experience  in  the  business 
which  makes  for  industrial  intelligence,  and  a  general  understanding 
of  the  work  upon  which  technical  instruction  must  be  based. 

The  changes  in  our  method  of  manufacturing  have  made  it  easily 
possible  for  young  people  employed  on  specialized  jobs  to  earn  a  much 
larger  wage  than  those  who  are  being  trained  by  the  existing  system  of 
apprenticeship,  which  aims  at  the  ultimate  efficiency  rather  than  the 
immediate  earning  power  of  the  apprentice.  This  condition  makes  it 
difficult  to  hold  young  workers  to  the  completion  of  an  apprentice- 
ship in  the  face  of  the  constant  and  insistent  temptation  to  take 
specialized  jobs  at  higher  wages.  Consolidation  of  industry  and  the 
development  of  specialized  machines  have  made  it  impossible  for  the 
employer  to  train  his  young  workers  in  this  large  way,  even  though 
he  were  willing  to  undertake  such  a  responsibility  in  the  stress  of 
competition.  Competitive  conditions  and  production  on  a  large  scale 
mean  that  every  foot  of  floor  space  and  each  valuable  machine  must  be 
utilized  to  its  full  capacity  at  all  times,  and  manufacturers  do  not 
feel  able  to  curtail  production  in  order  to  teach  young  people  on  these 
machines  when  they  are  likely  to  shift  to  another  establishment  presently 
and  hire  out  as  highly  skilled  operatives  at  an  increased  wage.  Appren- 
ticeship of  the  character  formerly  prevailing  is  so  expensive  that  it  has 
been  quite  generally  abandoned.  In  a  large  factory,  however,  a  teacher 
or  workman  can  be  employed  to  give  his  entire  time  to  a  group  of  boys, 
and  where  these  boys  are  selected,  the  system  can  actually  be  made  to 
show  a  profit  to  the  manufacturer.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  metal- 
working  and  printing  establishments,  apprenticeship  is  rarely  found  in 
connection  with  the  industries  studied,  in  the  case  of  the  employment  of 
young  persons  from  fourteen  to  seventeen  years  of  age.  Where  em- 
ployers claim  that  it  still  exists  in  their  shops,  they  seldom  show  more 
than  a  method  of  training  for  one  machine  or  one  department.  To 
give  merely  the  ability  to  earn  a  living  as  an  independent  worker  in 
most  industries  requires  a  comparatively  limited  knowledge  of  the 
business  as  a  whole,  and  this  instruction  could  be  given  in  the  shop  or 
factory.  Apprenticeship  in  this  sense,  however,  involves  such  a  short 


86 

period  of  training  and  is  so  narrow  in  its  scope  that  it  is  not  worthy 
of  consideration.  From  the  standpoint  of  general  and  industrial  intelli- 
gence, of  getting  the  best  out  of  life,  and  of  training  possible  future 
leaders,  it  is  quite  necessary  to  have  an  intelligent  knowledge  of  the  bus- 
iness as  a  whole. 

Present  conditions  have  made  it  more  and  more  difficult  to  secure 
as  workers  persons  who  are  interested  in  their  work,  who  understand 
its  relation  to  that  of  others,  and  who  feel  at  all  responsible  for  the 
success  of  the  business  as  a  whole.  The  most  thoughtful  employers 
feel  that  in  the  interests  of  industry  something  must  be  developed  to 
take  the  place  of  the  old  apprenticeship  system  which  will  in  a  broad 
way  make  for  a  general  understanding  of  the  business.  In  this  way 
the  worker  will  see  the  relation  of  his  work  to  that  of  his  fellows,  and 
will  realize  that  imperfections  in  his  work  will  cause  trouble  in  suc- 
ceeding operations,  and  make  difficulties  for  other  workmen,  for  the 
foremen  and  for  the  superintendent.  Such  general  knowledge  will 
make  better  workmen  and  at  the  same  time  will  enable  those  with 
natural  capacity  for  leadership  to  receive  the  kind  of  training  which 
will  make  for  promotion. 

It  is  no  longer  possible  for  the  shop  alone  to  give  such  a  broad  train- 
ing, but  experience  goes  to  show  that  it  is  possible,  through  part-time 
schooling,  in  which  the  shop  or  factory  unites  with  the  school  in  train- 
ing the  boy,  to  secure  a  better  preparation  for  industry  than  the 
apprenticeship  of  former  days  could  give.  Employers  have  made  deter- 
mined efforts  to  maintain  apprenticeship  where  there  is  the  greatest 
need  for  men  with  all-round  training  and  experience,  but  they  have 
found  it  impossible  to  do  this  without  an  agency  other  than  the  shop. 
They  have  found  that  the  related  scientific  and  technical  knowledge 
must  be  given  in  a  school,  and  where  the  public  schools  have  failed  to 
do  this,  they  have  established  schools  of  their  own.  There  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  the  adoption  of  a  comprehensive  plan  of  co- 
operation between  the  public  schools  and  employers  will  bring  back 
into  industry  the  most  desirable  features  of  the  old  plan,  viz.,  interest 
and  responsibility  for  the  welfare  of  the  young  worker,  more  favorable 
relations  between  the  employer  and  the  employee,  permanency  of  em- 
ployment and  a  means  of  imparting  the  best  of  all,  —  accumulated 
knowledge  on  the  subject. 

The  impracticability  of  the  apprenticeship  system  holds  true  in  ma- 
chine shops,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  report  on  the  "  Conditions  in 
Machine  Shops,"  found  on  page  65;  also  from  the  study  of  textile 
workers,  of  which  the  report  on  150  boys  in  Lowell,  on  page  61,  is 
typical.  It  is  clear  that  the  work  in  cotton  mills  of  to-day  is  so 
specialized  that  an  apprenticeship  system  would  be  of  little  use.  It 
requires  so  short  a  time  for  the  young  worker  to  learn  his  work,  usu- 
ally from  thirty  minutes  to  eight  hours,  that  there  is  no  need  for  an 
apprenticeship  system  to  help  him  in  getting  started  in  the  mill.  Help 


87 

is  needed  later,  however,  in  the  form  of  part-time  schooling,  to  enable 
the  boy  to  advance  in  the  mill. 

In  the  boot  and  shoe  industry  in  some  establishments  apprentices  are 
found  in  practically  only  one  department,  the  cutting  room.  At  the 
present  time  the  usual  way  to  learn  the  cutter's  trade  is  to  secure  the 
employer's  and  union's  permission  to  become  an  apprentice.  Local 
unions  have  regulations  concerning  apprentices  in  other  processes. 

Three  other  ways  of  learning  a  skilled  process  in  the  shoe  industry 
have  proved  to  be  more  practicable,  in  spite  of  their  limitations, 
namely,  by  attending  a  shoe-making  school,  by  getting  employment  in 
an  isolated  factory  or  by  "  stealing  "  a  trade. 

In  two  of  the  largest  shoe  centers  in  the  State  six  shoe  schools  were 
found  and  visited.1  These  schools  are  private  enterprises,  and  are  not 
favorably  regarded  by  either  shoe  manufacturers  or  unions.  Manufac- 
turers claim  that  the  pupils  are  poorly  taught,  and  the  present  shoe 
workers  do  not  wish  to  limit  their  opportunities  in  the  industry  by 
having  a  surplus  of  labor  such  as  these  schools  might  produce. 

Those  attending  the  schools  are,  to  an  increasing  degree,  of  foreign 
birth,  and  many  of  them  are  only  partly  literate.  Frequently  they 
have  been  in  this  country  only  a  few  months  and  are  thus  anxious  to 
learn  a  trade.  The  physical  conditions  in  these  schools  are  very  much 
lower  than  those  found  in  the  ordinary  shoe  factory. 

Only  two  of  these  schools  teach  most  of  the  processes  of  the  trade; 
two  others  give  instruction  only  in  stitching  room  operations,  and  the 
other  two  teach  those  processes  peculiar  to  a  "  turned  "  shoe  (one  that 
is  lasted  wrong  side  out  and  then  "turned"),  —  a  process  giving 
greater  flexibility. 

1  Abstract  of  study  made  by  the  Department  of  Research,  Women's  Educational  and  Industrial 
Union,  which  will  be  published  in  full  later. 


88 


Table  showing  processes  taught  and  number  of  students  learning  each 

in  four  schools.1 


SCHOOLS. 

PROCESSES. 

A. 

B. 

C. 

D. 

Total. 

Goodyear  welting,       

18 

- 

- 

- 

18 

Goodyear  stitching,     

18 

- 

- 

- 

18 

Rounding,    

10 

- 

- 

- 

10 

Turn  stitching,    

- 

- 

3 

- 

3 

Rapid  stitching,  

- 

- 

2 

.     - 

2 

Edge  trimming,  

30 

30 

2 

- 

62 

McKay  stitching,         

- 

7 

- 

- 

7 

Heeling  and  slugging,          .... 

8 

- 

- 

- 

8 

Vamping,     

50 

50 

- 

30 

130 

Cutting,       

- 

9 

- 

- 

9 

Pulling  over,        

35 

35 

- 

- 

70 

Lasting  on  No.  5  machine, 

45 

- 

- 

- 

45 

Skiving  

- 

- 

- 

11 

11 

Bottom  finishing,         

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

Edge  setting,        

25 

25 

- 

- 

50 

Foxing  and  tip  stitching,     .... 

20 

50 

- 

- 

70 

Top  stitching,      

- 

- 

- 

50 

50 

Turn  lasting,        

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

Turning  and  beating  out,    .... 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

Buffing  

- 

9 

- 

- 

9 

Scouring  and  breasting  

- 

9 

- 

- 

9 

Seaming  and  backstay  ing, 

30 

- 

- 

- 

30 

McKay  lasting,    

- 

- 

2 

- 

2 

Nailing  heel  seats, 

5 

- 

- 

- 

5 

Hand  lasting,       

12 

- 

- 

- 

12 

Leveling  and  stitch  separating,  . 

4 

- 

- 

- 

4 

Stitching  linings  

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

Patent  leather  repairing,     .... 

25 

- 

- 

- 

25 

Table  work  

150 

- 

- 

- 

150 

485 

224 

9 

91 

809 

1  The  manager  of  the  fifth  school  could  not  give  numbers  learning  the  different  processes,  but 
between  July,  1911,  and  the  first  of  February,  1912,  the  school  had  taught  300. 

For  teaching  these  different  processes  various  sums  are  charged, 
from  nothing  in  the  case  of  table  work  to  $75  for  Goodyear  welting 
or  stitching,  according  to  the  amount  of  training  required.  The  amount 
of  tuition  also  varies  somewhat  in  the  different  schools,  according  to 
the  grade  of  work  for  which  the  school  trains. 


89 


Table 


processes  taught  and  tuition  for  each  by  schools. 


PROCESSES. 

SCHOOLS. 

A. 

B. 

C. 

D. 

E. 

Goodyear  welting,        

S75 

- 

_ 

— 

_ 

Goodyear  stitching,     

75 

- 

_ 

_ 

_ 

Rounding,    

50 

- 

_ 

_ 

_ 

Turn  stitching,    

- 

- 

$50 

- 

_ 

Rapid  stitching,  

- 

- 

50 

- 

_ 

Edge  trimming  

40 

$25 

25 

_ 

_ 

McKay  stitching  

- 

35 

25 

_ 

_ 

Heeling  and  slugging,          .... 

25 

- 

- 

_ 

_ 

Vamping,      

25 

20 

- 

$25 

$25 

Cutting,        

- 

25 

- 

_ 

_ 

Pulling  over,        

25 

15 

- 

_ 

_ 

Lasting  on  No.  5  machine, 

25 

- 

- 

- 

_ 

Skiving,        

- 

- 

- 

25 

_ 

Bottom  finishing,         

- 

- 

25 

_ 

_ 

Edge  setting  

20 

20 

- 

- 

_ 

Foxing  and  tip  stitching,     .... 

15 

10 

- 

_ 

_ 

Top  stitching  

- 

5 

- 

15 

10 

Turning  and  beating  out,    .... 

- 

- 

15 

- 

- 

Turn  lasting,        

- 

- 

15 

- 

- 

Buffing,        

- 

15 

- 

- 

_ 

Scouring  and  breasting,       .... 

- 

15 

- 

- 

- 

Seaming  and  backstaying,  .... 

10 

- 

- 

- 

- 

McKay  lasting  

- 

- 

10 

- 

- 

Nailing  heel  seats,        

10 

- 

- 

- 

- 

Hand  lasting,       

10 

- 

- 

- 

- 

Leveling  and  stitch  separating,  . 

10 

- 

- 

- 

- 

Stitching  linings,          

- 

- 

- 

- 

5 

Patent  leather  repairing,     .... 

5 

- 

- 

- 

- 

Table  work  

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

The  teaching  of  the  operations  studied  by  boys  usually  costs  more 
than  the  teaching  of  those  which  girls  learn.  No  operation  open  to 
women  costs  more  than  $25,  while  men  must  pay  up  to  $75. 


90 


Table  showing  processes  taught  men  and  women,  and  tuition,  based  on 
the  statements  of  managers  of  five  shoemaking  schools.1 


PROCESSES. 

PUPILS.  •             | 

Tuition. 

Men. 

Women. 

Goodyear  welting,       .'        

X 

$75 

Goodyear  stitching  

X 

75 

Rounding,   

X 

50 

Turn  stitching,    

X 

50 

Rapid  stitching,           

X 

50 

Edge  trimming,  

X 

25-40 

McKay  stitching,         

X 

35 

Heeling  and  slugging,          

X 

.25 

Cutting,       

X 

25 

Lasting  on  No.  5  machine,          

X 

25 

Skiving,       

X 

X 

25 

Bottom  finishing,         

X 

25 

Vamping,     

X 

X 

20-25 

Pulling  over,        

X 

15-25 

Edge  setting,        

X 

20 

Foxing  and  tip  stitching,    

X 

X 

15 

Turn  lasting,        

X 

15 

Turning  and  beating  out,  

X 

15 

Buffing,        

X 

15 

Scouring  and  breasting,       

X 

15 

Top  stitching,      

X 

X 

5-15 

Seaming  and  backstaying,           

X 

X 

10 

McKay  lasting,    

X 

10 

Nailing  heel  seats,       

X 

10 

Hand  lasting  

X 

10 

Leveling  and  stitch  separating,           

X 

10 

Stitching  linings,         

X 

X 

5 

Patent  leather  repairing,     

X 

X 

5 

Table  work,         

X 

- 

1  Six  schools  were  found,  but  information  could  be  obtained  from  only  five. 

As  the  amount  paid  for  learning  a  process  is  based  upon  the  amount 
of  skill  necessarj',  which  in  turn  determines  the  wage,  it  can  be  seen 
that  those  processes  requiring  the  most  skill  and  paying  the  best  wages 
are  open  only  to  men. 

On  the  other  hand,  while  a  boy  commonly  learns  only  one  process  in  a 
school,  a  girl  may  and  often  does  learn  several.  For  example,  a  boy  who 


91 

attends  a  school  to  learn  Goodyear  welting  is  put  immediately  upon 
that  process,  and  learns  that  one  operation  only,  while  a  girl  who 
enters  to  learn  vamping  is  started  on  the  simpler  stitching  operations, 
such  as  stitching  linings,  backstaying  and  other  top-stitching  processes, 
before  she  is  finally  put  on  vamping.  Thus,  when  she  has  finished  her 
course,  she  knows  several  processes  in  addition  to  the  one  she  set  out 
to  learn. 

While  all  instruction  is  individual,  yet  the  training  received  is  often 
of  little  value  beyond  learning  how  to  run  a  power  machine,  and  the 
worker  finds  he  has  a  "  lot  to  learn  "  when  he  goes  to  a  factory.  The 
instructors  in  these  schools  supervise  the  work  done  by  the  students 
only  after  they  have  once  been  taught  to  operate  a  machine.  The 
managers  of  the  schools  make  practically  no  effort  to  place  their  pupils. 
The  fact  of  having  attended  a  school  usually  works  negatively  when 
looking  for  work,  as  foremen  do  not  like  to  hire  workers  who  have 
learned  their  trade  in  a  shoemaking  school.  They  prefer  absolutely 
unskilled  workers,  as  those  who  have  attended  the  schools  have  not 
been  carefully  taught.  One  superintendent  denounced  the  schools  as 
money-making  schemes,  and  claimed  that  if  there  was  a  rush  of  stu- 
dents at  one  of  these  schools,  the  old  pupils  were  frequently  asked 
to  leave  and  make  room  for  the  new  students,  although  in  some  in- 
stances they  had  not  fully  learned  the  processes  they  were  studying. 
As  the  number  of  workers  these  schools  place  in  the  trade  each  year  is 
very  small,  the  schools  do  not  play  an  important  part  in  training  for 
the  industry. 

In  a  few  cases  the  foreman  may  train  young  workers  if  they  start 
in  small  or  isolated  factories.  For  example,  in  one  large  isolated 
factory  a  regular  system  of  training  is  maintained.  Boys  and  girls 
are  employed  at  fourteen  years  or  older  and  are  taught  simple  proc- 
esses. If  they  wish  to  learn  more  skilled  operations,  the  firm  grants 
them  permits,  and  they  may  use  their  lunch  hours  or  dull  seasons  to 
acquire  the  necessary  information.  Instruction  is  given  by  foremen, 
friends  or  other  workers. 

One  drawback  to  being  taught  in  the  factory  is  that  the  young 
worker  has  usually  less  choice  in  the  operation  he  may  learn  than  has 
the  boy  who  teaches  himself  or  "  steals  "  his  trade.  The  foreman  con- 
siders that  he  is  a  better  judge  of  the  worker's  capacity,  and  he  usu- 
ally puts  the  boy  on  the  work  where  he  happens  to  be  short  of  help, 
regardless  of  the  feelings  or  capabilities  of  the  young  worker.  A 
large  proportion  of  these  young  "learners"  do  not  stay  long  enough 
to  complete  their  training.  They  are  advanced  so  slowly  that  they  lose 
courage,  and  leave  to  try  their  luck  at  "picking  up"  or  "stealing" 
a  trade  in  another  factory,  which  makes  no  pretence  of  giving  training. 

But  the  young  workers  who  attend  shoe  schools  or  receive  regular 
training  in  factories  form  only  a  small  proportion  of  those  learning 
the  trade  at  any  giv.en  time.  The  general  method  of  training  is  for  a 


92 

young  worker  to  begin  on  such  unskilled  work  as  pasting,  trimming 
ends,  match  marking  or  running  errands.  He  may  improve  any  oppor- 
tunity he  has  to  watch  a  machine  in  operation,  ask  questions  of  the 
worker  and  finally  try  running  the  machine  when  he  has  a  chance. 
In  due  time  the  would-be  skilled  operator  will  have  acquired  con- 
siderable knowledge  of  his  pet  process,  and  although  the  foreman 
would  not  think  of  advancing  him  for  some  time  to  come,  he  soon 
leaves  and  secures  a  job  elsewhere  as  an  "  experienced  worker  "  on  the 
process  he  has  so  haphazardly  "  picked  up."  If  he  can  "  bluff "  the 
job  while  acquiring  the  "  fine  points  "  he  is  all  right,  otherwise  he  must 
travel  the  rounds  of  shoe  factories,  spoiling  material  and  perhaps 
injuring  machines  until  he  has  learned  enough  to  hold  a  job. 

Boys  have  more  difficulty  than  girls  in  learning  skilled  processes. 
Unions  for  men  require  that  a  man  shall  have  worked  at  his  new  trade 
for  six  months  before  he  is  permitted  to  join  the  union,  and  two 
friends,  members  of  the  union,  must  vouch  for  the  fact  that  he  has 
fulfilled  the  requirements.  With  girls,  however,  there  are  no  special 
requirements  before  they  can  become  members  of  the  union.  In  addi- 
tion, foremen  say  that  women  are  more  likely  to  help  young  girls  than 
men  are  to  aid  boys.  Hence  one  frequently  sees  a  woman  showing  a 
girl  who  runs  errands  and  hunts  lost  shoes  how  to  stitch  backstays  or 
undertrimming,  and  in  a  short  time  the  girl  will  be  found  stitching 
backstays  while  her  brother  is  still  working  at  his  first  unskilled  job. 

Thus  the  girl  has  an  easier  time  in  advancing  to  skilled  work,  whether 
she  receives  instruction  in  a  school  or  in  the  factory.  The  boy  must 
pay  a  much  larger  sum  to  learn  one  of  the  most  skilled  processes  in  a 
shoemaking  school,  or,  if  he  tries  to  "  steal "  his  trade  in  a  factory, 
he  finds  many  of  the  older  men  opposed  to  his  advancement,  a  few 
going  so  far  as  to  remove  parts  of  their  machines  before  they  leave. 

While  the  young  worker  who  "  steals  "  his  trade  has  a  better  chance 
of  selecting  the  process  he  likes  best  and  of  advancing  to  that  operation 
sooner  than  does  the  one  receiving  training  in  an  isolated  factory,  yet 
his  success  depends  entirely  on  the  amount  of  initiative  he  has.  He 
must  not  only  select  the  process  which  is  to  be  his  goal,  without  ad- 
vice as  to  the  kind  of  work  for  which  he  is  best  suited,  but  he  must 
learn  that  process  by  overcoming  many  obstacles  in  the  form  of  oppo- 
sition on  the  part  of  his  employer,  the  union  and  his  fellow  workmen. 
To  win  success  under  these  difficulties  a  large  amount  of  ambition, 
initiative  and  grit  are  the  necessary  requisites,  and  the  boy  or  girl  who 
is  a  faithful,  plodding  worker  but  yet  lacks  the  necessary  "  push " 
must,  under  the  present  conditions,  forever  remain  in  the  second-rate 
positions  in  shoe  factories  paying  only  small  wages.  All  they  need  to 
enable  them  to  advance  to  the  most  skilled  processes  is  a  chance  to 
learn  these  processes  such  as  part-time  schools  would  offer.1 

1  For  a  comparison  of  the  difference  in  wages  at  successive  ages  between  boys  having  shop 
training  and  technical  school  training  see  chart  on  page  67  and  tables  on  pages  68  and  69  of  Douglas 
report,  1906,  on  "Industrial  and  Technical  Education." 


93 

The  following  questionnaire  was  used  in  connection  with  unions  to 
find  out  the  number  of  apprentices  in  the  boot  and  shoe  industry.  A 
number  of  unions  having  as  many  as  1,800  members  report  no  appren- 
tices. 

COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 

STATE  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION, 

FORD  BUILDING,  BOSTON. 

FORM  8. 

Name  of  union.     "Boot  &  Shoe  Workers,  Local  191."     City 

Number  of  men  belonging  to  union.     "About  300." 

Total  number  of  apprentices.     "  Approximately  15." 

What  is  the  proportion  of  apprentices  to  workmen  allowed  by  the  union? 

"  There  is  no  established  rule." 
Is  this  rule  one  which  is  adhered  to  in  all  cases,  or  are  special  contracts 

made  to  suit  varying  conditions?     "In  this  locality  we  enter  into  special 

agreements  to  fit  the  case." 
How   long  is   it   considered   necessary   for  an   apprentice  to   serve  in  this 

branch  of  the  trade,  or  what  is  the  period  of  apprenticeship  ?     "  Two  to 

three  years." 

At  what  minimum  age  are  apprentices  taken?     "  16." 
Is   a  wider  knowledge    of   the   business   considered   necessary   for   efficient 

work  in  this  branch  of  the  trade?     "Yes." 

Would  such  knowledge  mean  promotion  in  the  business?     "  Yes." 
Eemarks :    "  The  young  men  employed  as  trimming  cutters  are  sometimes 

known    as    apprentices    as   they    are    generally   promoted    to   journeymen 

cutters  from  that  branch." 


COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 

STATE  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION, 

FORD  BUILDING,  BOSTON. 

FORM  8. 

Name  of  union.    "  Goodyear  Operators  Independent  Union."    City 

Number  of  men  belonging  to  union.     "  290." 

Total  number  of  apprentices.     "  8." 

What  is  the  proportion  of  apprentices  to  workmen  allowed  by  the  union? 

"  One   desiring   to   learn   this   branch  of  shoemaking  requests  permission 

of  union.     If  we  are  unable  to  supply  skilled  help,  permit  is  usually 

granted." 
Is  this  rule  one  which  is  adhered  to  in  all  cases,  or  are  special  contracts 

made  to  suit  varying  conditions?     "No  contracts  made." 
How  long   is  it   considered  necessary  for   an   apprentice   to   serve   in   this 

branch  of  the  trade,  or  what  is  the  period  of  apprenticeship?     "At  least 

six  months." 

At  what  minimum  age  are  apprentices  taken?     "18." 
Is   a   wider   knowledge   of   the   business  considered   necessary   for  efficient 

work  in  this  branch  of  the  trade?     "Yes." 

Would  such  knowledge  mean  promotion  in  the  business?     "Naturally." 
Eemarks : 


94 

The  following  is  a  study  made  of  a  large  shoe  factory  which  gives 
special  care  to  the  training  of  young  workers :  — 

1.  At  what  age  are  they  admitted  to  the  factory? 
Fourteen  years  and  upwards. 

2.  (a)  To  what  kind   of  occupations  are  they   admitted  upon  entering 
the  factory? 

Boys.                                      Girls.  Boys  and  Girls. 

Dinkers.  Bow  makers.  Messengers. 

Trimming  cutters.  Pressers.  Station  workers. 

Pattern  boys.  Eeinforcers.  Cementers. 

Welt  pounders.  Upper  blackers.  Edge  blackers. 

Welt   beaters.  Thread  trimmers.  Heel  blackers. 

Heel  seat  tackers.  Match  markers.  Office  workers :  — 

Heeler  boys.  Taggers.  Checkers. 

Sluggers.  Heel  piece  placers.  Addressers. 
Assemblers  (last  room).        Lacers. 

Eack  boys.  Buttoners. 

Last  boys.  Tip  fixers. 

Stampers.  Edge  brushers. 

(6)  At  what  age  are   they  admitted  to  the  different  occupations? 
There  is  no  particular  age  for  entering  any  occupation. 

3.  Are  they  trained  for  the  ivork  of  a  machine  or  in  a  process  while  they 
are  engaged  in  unskilled  occupations,  or  do  they  enter  upon  the  work  at 
such  machines  when  they  begin  their  employment? 

A  few  receive  permits  which  enable  them  to  learn  a  skilled  operation 
when  work  is  slack  or  at  lunch  hour,  but  usually  the  worker  is  transferred 
at  once  to  the  job  which  he  is  to  learn. 

4.  Are  any  or  all  of  them  trained  by  instruction  at  machines  before  they 
enter  the  factory  on  the  wage-earning  basis  at  all? 

No.  They  earn  from  the  beginning.  They  are  supposed  to  be  on  piece 
wage,  but  as  they  cannot  make  a  fair  wage  at  the  start,  the  company  makes 
it  up  so  that  each  worker  has  at  least  $3.50  a  week. 

5.  7s  the  time  devoted  to  their  training  at  the  work  given  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  company  or  at  the  expense  of  the  worker? 

All  young  workers  are  trained  at  the  expense  of  the  company.  Older 
men  occasionally  work  without  pay  in  order  to  learn  a  new  process.  The 
company  allows  this  when  it  is  short  of  help  in  these  operations. 

6.  (a)  //  the  worker  who  is  engaged  in  unskilled  work  in  the  factory 
wishes  to  advance,  is  he  required  to  devote  a  portion  or  all  of  his  time  for 
a  given  period  to  training  for  a  better  job? 

No. 

(6)  Or  may  he  divide  his  time  working  part  time  in  his  wage-earning 
occupation  and  spend  part  time  training  for  the  new  work? 

Yes,  if  he  has  a  permit  and  his  own  work  is  slack.  If  he  is  busy  he  can 
give  no  time  to  learning  except  lunch  hour.  A  permit  is  given  to  a  boy  or 
girl  who  (a)  lives  in  the  neighborhood;  (5)  shows  talent;  (c)  is  anxious 
to  learn. 


95 

7.  Is   the   helper  system  employed  as   a  cheap   method  in  training   the 
worker?     By  helper  system  is  meant  a  scheme  whereby  an  operative  who 
already  knows  the  machine  instructs  the  new  person. 

This  is  the  most  economical  method  and  is  used  when  only  a  few  workers 
are  being  trained.  When  a  large  number  is  taken  on,  the  foreman  or  a 
regular  teacher  —  if  the  foreman  is  too  busy  —  gives  the  training.  The 
teacher  is  taken  from  the  operators,  is  paid  about  $20,  and  when  the  train- 
ing is  over  goes  back  to  the  machine. 

8.  Are   extra   supervisors   or  teachers   or   certain   foremen   or  assistants 
and  second  hands  assigned  to  the  duty  of  training  the  new  workers? 

Yes.  If  the  foreman  is  free  to  teach,  he  does  so,  otherwise  a  teacher 
must  be  chosen  from  the  operatives. 

9.  How  long  does  it  take  to  give  the  necessary  preliminary  training  to 
the  new   worker?     It  is  suggested  that  the  answer  to  this  question  will 
probably  have  to  be  made  by  different  machines  or  processes  rather  than 
in  any  form  of  general  statement. 

The  time  taken  to  learn  various  processes  ranges  from  ten  minutes  to 
some  months.  Such  jobs  as  errands,  pressing  and  cementing  are  learned 
at  once.  Beginners  are  not  put  on  machines  unless  help  is  needed;  such 
processes  as  skiving  might  take  as  long  as  two  months.  It  is  impossible 
to  give  even  the  approximate  time  of  learning  as  it  varies  so  much  with 
every  beginner. 

10.  To   what   extent   does   the   time   necessary  for  the   training   of   the 
worker  vary  according  to  the  kind  of  machine  or  process,  the  age  of  the- 
worker,  the  intelligence  of  the  worker  and  the  aptitude  of  the  worker  for 
the  job? 

The  time  varies  indirectly  with  the  intelligence  and  aptitude  of  the 
worker  for  the  job  and  directly  with  the  age.  In  all  processes  that  are 
not  too  complicated  the  very  young  workers  learn  most  quickly;  they  are 
more  impetuous  and  less  afraid  of  accidents,  and  are  swift  in  their  motions. 
If  not  impeded  by  overcrowding  or  other  causes,  an  intelligent  worker 
can  reach  his  best  work  as  early  as  nineteen. 

11.  Are  the  regular  machines  on  the  floor  of  the  shop  used  for  the  train? 
ing  of  the  worker  or  are  special  machines  set  apart  from  time  to  time,  at 
least  for  the  task? 

Formerly  the  company  ran  a  kind  of  kindergarten  in  a  special  room,  but 
now  the  learners  go  in  line  with  the  regular  workers. 

12.  7s  the  worker  trained  on  an  exercise  or  on  a  productive  basis? 
Productive. 

13.  If  on  a  productive  basis  what  is  done  with  spoiled  work? 

It  is  if  possible  repaired,  if  not,  thrown  away.  Very  little  material  is 
spoiled,  as  learners  are  not  put  on  a  job  that  is  too  difficult  for  them. 

14.  What  arrangement,  if  any,  is  made  for  giving  the  worker  any  pay 
for  the  output  of  the  process  carried  on  during  the  training? 

Credit  is  given  on  piece  basis  for  work  done.  As  this  means  a  very 
low  weekly  wage  for  some  weeks,  the  company  makes  it  up  to  the  extent 
of  $3.50  to  $5  for  girls  and  $5  to  $6  for  boys,  according  to  the  difficulty 
of  the  operation.  Occasionally  it  happens  that  a  man  worker  is  badly 
needed  for  a  skilled  operation,  in  which  case  he  is  paid  at  the  rate  of  $12 
a  week  while  learning. 


96 

15.  In  training  the  worker  for  the  new  position  which  of  the  following 
points  or  factors  are  dealt  with  and  to  what  extent? 

All  these  factors  are  taken  into  account.  There  is  no  scientific  manage- 
ment in  the  sense  of  analyzing  the  various  movements  and  eliminating 
unnecessary  ones. 

(a)  Manipulative  skill. 

The  fastest  worker  is  regarded  as  the  one  who  has  most  manipulative 
skill.  He  is  taken  from  the  machine  occasionally  to  show  the  other  workers 
how  to  acquire  speed  and  handle  material  deftly. 

(6)  Speed  and  output. 

The  young  learners  are  discouraged  from  speeding  at  the  start.  Their 
one  aim  is  to  avoid  mistakes,  and  no  attempt  is  made  at  speeding  until  the 
work  is  perfect. 

(c)  Elimination  of  waste. 

There  is  little  danger  of  waste  as  the  learners  handle  only  small  pieces 
of  material  which  have  been  previously  cut. 

(d)  Safeguards   against   seconds. 

A  learner  is  rarely  put  on  a  job  until  he  has  proved  himself  able  for  it, 
so  that  he  spoils  comparatively  little. 

(e~)  Prevention    of    accidents. 

Very  few  machines  are  at  all  dangerous,  and  the  learner  is  shown  the 
parts  of  the  machine  which  may  be  dangerous. 

(/)  Information  about  material  dealt  with  and  how  to  deal  with  it. 

(<7)  Scientific  management  in  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  elimination  of 
unnecessary  movements  and  awkward  movements  in  the  work. 

16.  (a)   To  what  extent  is  there  any  system  in  use  whereby  operatives 
who  show  skill  at  one  machine  acquire  an  opportunity  to  secure  practice  at 
other  machines? 

It  is  the  aim  of  the  company  that  their  operatives  shall  be  able  to  run 
several  machines.  It  is  always  made  clear  to  the  young  people  that  any 
one  who  is  anxious  to  learn  and  get  a  better  job  can  do  so.  Skilled  jobs 
are  always  to  be  had.  When  the  foreman  notices  that  a  learner  is  bright 
he  asks  him  if  he  is  anxious  to  learn  some  other  operations.  If  he  is,  he 
receives  a  permit.  He  can  often  select  the  operation  in  which  he  wishes 
to  be  trained,  but  on  the  whole  the  workers  show  very  little  discrimination 
in  choosing  jobs  for  which  they  are  adapted. 

(&)  To  what  extent,  while  this  is  being  done,  does  this  skilled  operative 
seeking  skill  at  another  machine  receive  oversight  and  instruction? 

One  of  the  older  workers  is  usually  made  responsible  for  the  work  on 
his  line,  and  he  frequently  examines  the  learner's  work. 

17.  What   arrangement,   if   any,  is   made   for   the   previous   training   of 
those  who  are  especially  set  aside  or  given  the  task  of  training  others?    In 
other  words,  to  what  extent  does  the  plant  train  its  own  teachers  or  fore- 
men? 

None.  The  foreman  talks  with  a  worker  whom  he  selects  as  teacher  and 
explains  to  him  what  he  wants  done.  It  is  assumed  that  the  best  operator 
will  make  the  best  teacher.  If  he  does  not  make  good,  another  operator  is 
chosen  and  he  returns  to  his  machine. 

18.  Which  of  the  following   aims   has   the  firm  in  view  in  its  present 
scheme  of  training  its  operatives?    Importance  of  each. 


97 

a,  d,  e,  and  g  are  the  most  important  aims  in  the  training;  g  is  probably 
the  most  important  of  all. 

(a)    The  attracting  of  desirable  workers  to  the  plant. 

The  fact  that  the  workers  know  they  can  learn  in  a  shop  is  a  powerful 
inducement  to  their  coming. 

(&)  The  making  of  some  undesirable  workers  at  the  outset  into  desir- 
able workers. 

This  is  very  rarely  done,  if  at  all. 

(c)  The  utilisation  of  women  and  children  to  an  extent  not  usually  found 
in  a  shoe  factory. 

On  the  contrary,  women  and  children  are  less  utilized  than  in  other 
shops. 

(d)  The  obtaining  of  a  class  of  workers  who,  because  of  training,  can 
be  utilized  at  a  number  of  different  machines  or  processes. 

This  is  one  of  the  company's  chief  aims.     (See  17  a.) 

(e)  The  securing  of  greater  speed  and  a  larger  output  on  the  part  of 
the  worker. 

The  company  believes  that  workers  who  are  carefully  taught  at  the  be- 
ginning must  ultimately  arrive  at  a  greater  speed  than  the  worker  who  picks 
up  his  trade  and  has  never  been  corrected,  though  he  may  work  in  a 
roundabout  way. 

(/)  The  acquainting  of  the  worker  with  more  activities  of  the  factory 
to  make  him  business  wise  or  industry  wise. 

This  is  done,  but  to  no  very  great  extent.  The  worker  is  shown,  however, 
what  opportunities  there  are  for  a  boy  or  girl  with  ability. 

(g}  The  laying  of  the  foundation,  particularly  in  the  case  of  boys,  of 
a  knowledge  of  the  factory  that  will  bring  about  after  a  while  a  desirable 
type  of  second  hand,  assistant  and  foreman. 

This  has  always  been  aimed  at  and  has  been  proved  successful.  Every 
foreman  in  the  factory  is  an  old  employee  of  the  company.  In  no  case 
has  it  been  obliged  to  bring  in  a  foreman  from  outside.  Almost  all  the 
heads  of  the  firm  as  well  as  the  foremen  have  been  with  the  company  since 
they  were  boys.  The  president  worked  for  many  years  in  the  office  and  the 
vice-president  was  formerly  a  salesman. 

19.  Are    there    any    methods    of   scientific    management    of    the   factory, 
organised    division    of    labor,    utilisation    of    schemes,    safeguards    against 
waste,  etc.,  that  are  peculiar  to  the  factory  and  that  have  made  the  scheme 
of  training  practically  necessary  or  desirable? 

There  is  no  scientific  management  in  the  sense  in  which  it  has  been 
introduced  into  other  factories.  The  firm  believes  that  the  best  way  to 
secure  good  work  is  by  removing  all  inefficient  workers,  and  thus  keeping 
the  standard  high.  The  foremen  and  department  superintendents  have 
decided,  after  long  experience,  what  each  job  is  worth.  A  job,  for  instance, 
ought  to  bring  a  good  operator  $25  a  week.  If  he  falls  below  this  con- 
stantly, the  foreman  examines  his  case,  and  when  he  finds  that  the  workman, 
through  his  own  inefficiency,  is  not  able  to  keep  pace  with  the  others,  he 
removes  him  to  some  easier  job. 

20.  In   the  opinion  of  the   company  is   the  present   scheme  of  training 
workers  proving  to  be  profitable? 

Yes. 


98 

(a)  Do  they  give  the  company  more  efficient  work? 

Yes.  Workers  who  are  carefully  taught  must  necessarily  be  more  effi- 
cient than  people  who  steal  their  trades. 

(&)   Can  skilled  help  "be  secured  for  a  lower  wage  in  this  way? 

No,  for  employees  who  have  been  trained  in  the  shop  work  side  by  side 
with  the  workers  wjio  come  from  outside. 

(c)  Are  they  loyal  to  and  do  they  remain  with  the  company? 

On  the  whole,  yes;  but  there  are  many  exceptions.  A  great  many  leave 
before  they  have  been  really  taught.  Of  those  who  learn,  from  one  third 
to  one  half  remain,  while  a  fair  number  come  back  again  after  working 
for  a  few  years  in  other  places. 

(d)  What  is  the  attitude  of  the  older  workers  to  the  training  of  these 
apprentices? 

As  a  rule,  the  training  is  taken  as  a  matter  of  course.  In  a  few  highly 
paid  jobs  the  men  resent  the  training,  though  not  very  actively.  Their 
resentment  is  shown  by  unwillingness  to  help  the  young  worker,  and  occa- 
sionally by  putting  obstacles  in  his  way.  The  reason  for  this  is  to  prevent 
an  oversupply  in  the  highly  paid  jobs. 

21.  What  operations  are  performed  ~by  women  and  boys  in  this  factory 
that  are  performed  by  men  at  the  union  wage  in  other  factories? 

This  cannot  be  answered  accurately.  The  firm  believes  that  women  are 
employed  on  fewer  operations  than  in  many  union  factories,  and  in  much 
fewer  than  the  nonunion  shops.  Women  do  ironing  in  a  great  many  shops 
but  here  it  is  done  by  men.  Eooms  in  which  women  work:  stitching  room, 
casing-up  room,  sole  leather  room,  bottoming  room,  edge  trimming  room. 
Eooms  in  which  women  do  not  work:  lasting  room,  ironing  room,  welt  room. 

22.  By  what  device,  if  any,  are  the  most  efficient  and  brightest  hands 
trained  for  jobs  which  offer  opportunity  for  higher  skill  and  promotion? 

The  brightest  operators  are  given  permits  to  learn  a  skilled  operation. 
If  there  is  need  of  help  in  the  latter  operation  the  foreman  or  teacher 
trains  the  learners,  if  not,  the  learner  arranges  with  some  other  worker 
(usually  a  particular  friend)  to  teach  him  at  odd  times.  Sometimes  the 
learner  pays  a  worker  to  teach  him,  but  this  is  very  rare.  (Amount  paid  not 
known.) 

23.  Does  the  system  in  use  at  the  factory  allow  for  pro-motions  of 

those   hands   who   demonstrate  their  ability   to  jobs   of  a   higher  earning 
capacity  than  those  which  they  are  now  occupying? 

As  workmen  in  the  high-priced  jobs  leave  from  time  to  time  the  firm 
always  tries  to  fill  their  places  with  its  own  employees  instead  of  bringing 
in  help  from  outside.  It  is  impressed  upon  all  young  workers  that  there 
are  always  good  jobs  waiting  if  they  will  train  for  them. 


99 


APPENDIX  E. 


PRACTICABILITY   OF   PART-TIME    SCHOOLING. 
I.    STANDPOINTS  FROM  WHICH  IT  is  CONSIDERED. 

In  the  present  discussion,  the  practicability  of  part-time  schooling  is 
considered  from  three  points  of  view.  (1)  From  the  standpoint  of  the 
workers:  (a)  Are  they  capable  of  being  educated  so  that  they  can 
profit  by  the  instruction  and  training  offered?  (&)  Will  such  training 
help  them  in  the  industry?  (c)  Is  their  economic  condition  such  that 
they  can  stand  a  possible  reduction  in  wage  while  taking  the  work?  (2) 
From  the  standpoint  of  school  organization:  (a)  Can  a  school  be  so 
organized  as  to  give  training  which  will  help  workers  to  better  their  con- 
dition in  the  industry?  (6)  Can  it  give  training  which  will  broaden  the 
outlook  of  the  workers  along  social  and  civic  lines?  (c)  Can  enough 
time  be  taken  from  the  industry  to  make  such  teaching  practicable?  (d) 
Can  teachers  be  secured?  (e)  Can  the  proper  equipment  be  obtained? 
(3)  From  the  standpoint  of  the  organization  of  industry:  (a)  Can 
time  be  taken  during  the  working  hours  for  attendance  upon  a  school? 
(b)  Can  the  work  done  by  young  people  be  so  arranged  that  two  can 
work  on  the  same  job,  and  can  the  extra  help  necessary  to  inaugurate 
a  plan  of  part-time  schooling  be  secured?  (c)  Will  school  training  aid 
the  industry?  (d)  Will  employers  co-operate? 

It  is  very  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  answer  these  questions  on 
a  statistical  basis.  Figures  which  show  the  number  who  say  that  they 
would  attend  such  courses  are  unreliable  and  at  best  only  a  rough 
indication  of  the  attitude  of  the  workers.  Some  schools  are  already 
giving  satisfactory  training  along  a  number  of  different  lines,  but  only 
further  experiment  can  determine  how  successfully  they  can  do  work 
along  other  lines. 

II.    ATTITUDE  OF  EMPLOYERS. 

One  of  the  most  important  considerations  in  the  working  out  of  this 
problem  is  the  willingness  of  employers  to  co-operate  with  the  school. 
Experience  in  the  development  of  this  work  during  the  past  five  years 
has  shown  that  at  first  comparatively  few  employers  are  ready  to  so 
co-operate,  but  after  a  school  has  demonstrated  its  value,  the  majority 
of  the  manufacturers  are  disposed  to  organize  their  business  in  such  a 
way  that  they  can  allow  their  young  workers  time  to  attend  the  part- 
time  school.  The  following  table  shows  the  attitude  of  71  employers 
towards  a  plan  of  part-time  schooling.  The  great  majority  of  these 


100 


favored  the  alternating  weekly  plan  on  a  half -time  basis.  An  exception 
to  this  is  found  in  the  case  of  department  stores,  where  the  only  plan 
submitted  was  for  a  period  of  eight  hours  per  week. 

TABLE   I.  —  Attitude    of   manufacturers    toward   plan    of   part-time 

training. 


INDUSTRY. 

Time  for  school 
work  proposed. 

Number 
in  favor. 

Number 
opposed. 

Total. 

Percent- 

.    fge 
in  favor. 

Department  stores, 

8  hours  per  week, 

10 

- 

10 

100 

Printing,       

Half  time,    . 

9 

1 

10 

90 

Machine  work  

Half  time,    . 

16 

3 

19 

84 

Shoe  manufacturing,   . 

Half  time,    . 

10 

3 

13 

77 

Bookbinding,        .... 

Half  time,    . 

2 

4 

6 

33^ 

Textile  work  

Half  time,    . 

3 

11 

13 

27 

The  above  table  seems  to  show  that  where  skill  and  training  are 
required  the  manufacturers  are,  on  the  whole,  in  favor  of  co-operating 
with  the  school.  The  plans  submitted  suggested  the  alternating  weekly 
scheme.  The  form  of  schedule  used  is  found  on  pages  108  and  109, 
"  Shoe  Study." 

It  will  be  noted  that  all  of  the  department-store  employers  were 
in  favor  of  the  plan,  which  may  indicate  that  the  inquiry  was  con- 
fined to  those  stores  which  had  had  experience  with  this  kind  of  work 
or  were  familiar  with  what  has  been  done  in  other  stores. 

One  printing  establishment  is  recorded  as  opposed  to  the  plan,  and 
in  this  case  the  chief  objections  given  were  two:  the  difficulty  of  ar- 
ranging shifts  because  of  the  great  amount  of  individuality  required  in 
the  work ;  and  the  fear  that  a  public  school  could  do  no  really  practical 
and  helpful  work  to  aid  the  printing  industry.  The  favorable  attitude 
on  the  part  of  the  other  9  was  due  to  at  least  three  causes:  (a)  a 
realization  of  the  fact  that  some  of  the  training  given  in  the  regular 
public  schools  now  is  of  value  in  the  printing  business,  and  that  a 
course  of  study  planned  for  the  particular  industry  would  be  of  greater 
value;  (fc)  printing  is  not  a  large  child-employing  industry;  almost 
all  of  the  young  workers  enter  at  seventeen  years  or  older,  and  are 
obliged  to  spend  a  year  in  the  business  before  they  become  valuable 
workers;  if  young  people  were  to  enter  the  industry  at  fourteen  or 
fifteen  years  of  age  on  a  half-time  basis,  spending  the  other  half  of 
their  time  in  a  vocational  school,  at  seventeen  years  of  age  their  services 
would  be  decidedly  more  valuable  than  is  the  case  at  the  present  time; 
in  addition,  their  capacity  for  growth  and  development  in  the  industry 
would  be  increased  many  fold;  (c)  the  difficulty  of  giving  in  the 
printing  office  the  proper  instruction  to  the  new  workers. 


101 

In  machine  shops  only  2  out  of  19  to  which  agents  were  sent  were 
opposed  to  the  plan.  In  this  industry  it  has  been  demonstrated  beyond 
a  doubt  that  a  plan  of  part-time  schooling  will  receive  the  hearty  sup- 
port of  the  manufacturers  when  they  have  learned  what  the  school 
proposes  to  do  and  it  has  proved  that  it  can  do  it.1  All  those  who  were 
opposed  had  had  no  experience  with  part-time  training.  Some  of  those 
who  expressed  themselves  enthusiastically  in  favor  of  a  plan  of  part- 
time  training  were  opposed  to  such  a  plan  when  approached  during 
the  previous  study  made  by  the  Commission  on  Industry  and  Technical 
Education. 

A  great  majority  of  the  shoe  manufacturers  who  were  interviewed 
are  in  favor  of  the  plan;  yet  they  have  had  no  experience  whatever 
along  these  lines,  and  the  work  offered  abroad  gives  nothing  in  the 
way  of  experience  from  which  they  can  draw  conclusions.  They  do, 
however,  know  that  a  number  of  workers  have  gone  to  Germany  and 
received  valuable  all-round  training  for  the  shoe  business,  and  they 
are  heartily  in  favor  of  any  scheme  which  would  approximate  the  same 
kind  of  instruction. 

The  majority  of  the  employers  running  bookbinding  and  textile 
establishments  were  opposed  to  the  plan.  The  binding  trade  is  so 
small  that  this  opposition  need  be  given  little  weight.  The  textile 
industry,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the  largest  child-employing  industry 
in  Massachusetts,  and  those  who  are  recorded  in  favor  of  a  half-time 
plan  favored  it  for  selected  groups,  not  for  the  young  textile  workers 
as  a  whole.  Five  representatives  of  the  textile  industry  in  Lawrence 
stated  that  they  were  willing  to  take  all  the  boys  the  schools  would 
send  them  on  a  half-time  basis,  so  that  these  boys  might  continue  their 
general  and  special  education  while  in  school,  and  so  that  the  mills 
would  have  this  additional  amount  of  help,  with  the  possibility  that 
a  few  might  continue  in  the  mill  business. 

III.    EFFECT  ON  THE  INDUSTRY. 

Department  Stores. 

In  department  stores  only  2.5  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of 
workers  are  estimated  as  being  under  seventeen  years  of  age.  With 
the  plan  worked  out  in  the  Women's  Educational  and  Industrial  Union 
school  for  salesmanship,  only  a  slight  increase  in  the  working  force, 
if  any,  would  be  necessary.  If  efficient  work  is  done  with  these  people 
while  attending  school  there  should  be  no  economic  loss  to  the  industry 
if  time  for  such  training  is  allowed  without  any  reduction  in  pay.  In 
fact,  it  has  been  demonstrated  that  it  is  a  paying  proposition  for  the 
firms  to  allow  this  time  to  be  taken.2 

1  See  Appendix  E,  and  opinions  of  manufacturers,  pp.  117-119.     2  See  Appendix  G,  p.  147. 


102 


Printing  and  Publishing. 

It  is  estimated  that  in  printing  and  publishing  establishments  about 
4  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of  workers  are  under  seventeen  years 
of  age.  The  work  is  individual  in  its  character,  and  in  a  rough  way 
may  be  compared  with  certain  establishments  in  the  machine  industry, 
where  successful  work  in  part-time  instruction  has  already  been  done, 
and  it  will  be  no  more  difficult  to  work  out  a  plan  of  part-time  school- 
ing for  this  industry  than  for  the  machine  shops.  Enough  work  has 
been  done  in  the  teaching  of  printing  and  related  subjects  to  demon- 
strate that  training  can  be  given  in  the  school  which  will  make  the 
boy  more  valuable  to  the  employer.  This  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that 
it  is  difficult  for  one  school  which  is  now  operating  both  a  full-time 
and  part-time  printing  course  to  keep  the  boys  in  school  after  they 
have  had  a  year's  training,  as  they  are  offered  unusually  high  wages 
in  the  trade,  which  attract  them  from  the  school. 

Machine  Industry. 

The  statistics  available  would  seem  to  indicate  that  only  about  2  per 
cent,  of  those  employed  in  machine  shops  are  under  seventeen  years 
of  age.  Judging  from  the  numbers  actually  found  in  certain  machine 
shops  during  this  investigation,  and  from  other  studies,  it  is  appar- 
ent that  this  percentage  is  much  too  small  to  represent  the  true  num- 
ber.1 The  class  of  work  is  such  that  it  is  much  more  difficult  to  so 
arrange  that  one  worker  shall  take  up  and  carry  on  the  work  of  an- 
other than  in  such  an  industry  as  textiles,  but  the  value  of  the  training 
given  has  been  found  to  more  than  compensate  for  the  difficulty  of 
making  the  arrangement.  Many  employers  are  disposed  to  give  five 
hours  a  week  without  a  reduction  in  pay,  as  they  believe  that  in  the 
end  they  will  get  more  intelligent  and  efficient  service. 

Shoe  Manufacturing. 

In  the  shoe  industry  the  percentage  reported  under  seventeen  years 
of  age  is  5.6,  but  this  will  vary  very  much  with  the  community.  Union- 
ized centers  and  factories  doing  the  highest  grade  of  work  have  a 
smaller  percentage  than  the  nonunionized  centers  and  the  ones  in  which 
a  cheaper  grade  of  work  is  done.  In  either  case  there  is  a  disposition 
on  the  part  of  the  manufacturer  to  co-operate.2 

1  In  the  city  of  Quincy  alone,  which  cannot  be  considered  a  machine  center,  229  workers  between 
fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age  were  employed  in  machine  shops,  almost  one  third  of  the  total 
number. 

*  See  chapter  on  "Apprenticeship,"  and  p.  107. 


103 


Bookbinding. 

Sixteen  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  employed  in  bookbinding  are 
under  seventeen  years.  The  trade  is,  however,  so  small  by  comparison 
with  many  of  the  others  that  there  should  be  little  if  any  difficulty  in 
getting  enough  young  workers  to  take  the  places  of  those  who  are 
attending  school.  In  the  case  of  girls  there  would  be  little  if  any  ad- 
vantage to  the  industry  from  a  plan  of  part-time  schooling.  In  the 
case  of  boys,  a  general  training  such  as  might  be  given  for  a  machine 
trade  would  be  of  considerable  advantage  in  the  understanding  of 
operations  and  maintenance  of  machines.  The  largest  establishments 
in  this  industry  seem  to  be  undergoing  a  change,  and  substituting 
rather  complicated  machines  to  do  much  of  the  work  formerly  done 
by  hand. 

Textile  Industry. 

In  the  textile  industry  the  per  cent,  of  workers  under  seventeen  years 
of  age  is  9.  The  supply  of  young  help  is  apparently  insufficient  for  a 
half-time  plan.  It  is  believed,  however,  that  a  half-time  plan  to  con- 
tinue the  general  and  vocational  education  of  a  considerable  number  of 
young  people  could  be  operated  without  any  detriment  to  the  industry; 
in  fact,  it  will  be  an  advantage  to  the  industry  to  get  the  additional 
amount  of  help.  There  are  probably  enough  young  people  idle  to  fill 
the  places  made  vacant  by  having  the  workers  in  this  industry  attend 
school  from  five  to  eight  hours  per  week,  possibly  longer.1 

TABLE  II.  —  Number  of  children  14  years  of  age  at  work  in  cotton  mills  of 
Fall  River  from  truant  officer's  report,  and  number  of  children  granted 
age  and  schooling  certificates  to  work  in  the  same  cotton  mills  for  the 
same 


MILL. 

Truant  officers' 
report  of 
number  at 
work,  14  years 
of  age. 

1. 

AGE  AND  SCHOOLING 
CERTIFICATES. 

14  years, 
3  months  and 
under. 

2. 

Over  14  years, 
3  months 
and  under  15. 

3. 

No.  1, 

35 
19 
6 
1 
4 
12 
26 
13 
3 
15 
2 

9 
37 
11 
15 
21 
17 
51 
24 
2 
20 
20 

5 
12 
1 
4 
5 
10 
10 
9 
3 
7 

No.  2  
No  3                                      .... 

No  4                                               ... 

No.  5,  .                                  .... 
No   6,                                     .... 

No  7                                               ... 

No  8 

No  9                                               ... 

No   10                                             ... 

No.  11  

•  See  number  and  age  of  schooling  certificates  granted  and  number  actually  employed  in  dif- 
ferent cities  for  the  same  ages.  Table  II. ,  Appendix  A,  and  Table  II.  of  this  appendix  show  that 
about  one  half  as  many  between  fourteen  and  fifteen  years  of  age  are  employed  as  there  were 
schooling  certificates  granted  for  the  different  mills  in  Fall  River  between  these  ages. 


104 


TABLE  II.  —  Number  of  children  14  years  of  age  at  work  in  cotton  mills  of 
Fall  River  from  truant  officer's  report,  and  number  of  children  granted 
age  and  schooling  certificates  to  work  in  the  same  cotton  mills  for  the 
same  year  —  Concluded. 


AGE   AND  SCHOOLING 

Truant  officers' 

CERTIFICATES. 

MILL. 

report  of 
number  at 
work,  14  years 
of  age. 

14  yrs, 
3  months  and 
under. 

Over  14  years, 
3  months 
and  under  15. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

No.  12, 

12 

20 

4 

No.  13, 

2 

14 

3 

No.  14, 

10 

26 

9 

No.  15, 

2 

1 

No.  16, 

5 

6 

1 

No.  17, 

Ages  not  given 

103 

27 

No.  18, 

17 

29 

4 

No.  19, 

3 

2 

No.  20, 

104 

71 

11 

No.  21, 

37 

51 

5 

No.  22, 

8 

23 

4 

No.  23, 

10 

17 

4 

No.  24, 

5 

_ 

No.  25, 

23 

23 

2 

No.  26, 

18 

58 

8 

No.  27, 

9 

16 

5 

No.  28, 

17 

11 

2 

No.  29, 

4 

11 

2 

No.  30, 

6 

_ 

_ 

No.  31, 

9 

34 

10 

No.  32, 

10 

32 

4 

No.  33, 

9 

17 

5 

No.  34, 

7 

29 

10 

No.  35, 

18 

20 

2 

No.  36, 

13 

28 

5 

No.  37, 

2 

12 

2 

No.  38, 

12 

20 

5 

No.  39 

17 

31 

5 

No.  40, 

13 

20 

4 

No.  41, 

Ages  not  given 

30 

4 

No.  42, 

11 

16 

8 

Totals  

547 

999 

223 

This  table  shows  that  less  than  one-half  as  many  are  employed 
as  hold  age  and  schooling  certificates. 


IV.    PREVIOUS  EXPERIMENTS  IN  PART-TIME  SCHOOLING. 

Department  Stores. 

Part-time  schools  have  been  operated  for  periods  of  from  five  to 
eight  hours  each  week  in  connection  with  department  stores  in  the 
following  places :  Boston,  co-operating  with  the  school  for  salesmanship 
of  the  Women's  Educational  and  Industrial  Union  and  the  Boston 
public  schools,  Chicago,  Cincinnati,  Cleveland,  Kalamazoo,  San  Fran- 
cisco, and  the  Wanamaker  stores  of  Philadelphia  and  New  York. 


105 


Printing  and  Publishing. 

Part-time  work  on  the  alternating  half-day  plan  is  successfully 
operated  in  one  of  the  large  printing  houses  of  Chicago.  A  plan  of 
spending  three  days  in  the  school  and  three  days  in  the  print  shop 
has  been  working  for  a  year  in  Newton,  Mass.  In  Cincinnati,  40  boys 
from  printing  offices  are  attending  a  part-time  school  five  hours  per 
week. 

Machine  Shops. 

Classes  on  a  half-time  basis  have  been  successfully  operated  in  Cleve- 
land and  Cincinnati.  The  Cincinnati  machine  shops  have  also  been 
sending  300  apprentices  to  a  part-time  or  continuation  school  for  a 
period  of  five  hours  per  week.  The  school  operated  in  Beverly  is 
conducted  on  the  half-time  plan,  and  the  shop  work  done  in  the  school 
is  a  part  of  the  productive  work  of  the  factory.  Similar  work  is  being 
done  in  Newton,  Quincy  and  Worcester,  and  plans  are  being  made  to 
operate  other  classes  in  Illinois,  Waterbury,  Conn.,  and  other  places. 

Shoe  Manufacturing. 

As  yet  there  have  been  no  part-time  experiments  in  connection  with 
shoe  manufacturing.  Schools  giving  training  similar  to  that  suggested 
in  the  programs,  Appendix  F,  have  been  successfully  operated  in 
Wernelkerchen,  Prussia,  and  in  England.  The  majority  of  the  foreign 
part-time  schools  are  for  "  hand  shoe  workers."  See  Appendix  D, 
on  "Apprenticeship." 

Textile  Industry. 

The  half-time  schools  in  England  take  children  under  fourteen  years 
of  age  employed  in  the  textile  industry.  The  instruction  is  general 
rather  than  vocational  in  its  character,  and  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
school  is  unsatisfactory.  In  Fitchburg,  Mass.,  one  textile  establishment 
has  12  boys  on  a  half-time  alternating  weekly  plan.  In  Lowell  a 
number  are  attending  a  school  on  Sunday  afternoons.  This  is  here 
classed  as  continuation  school  work  rather  than  as  part-time  instruction, 
because  no  time  is  taken  from  the  working  day. 

Candy  Making. 

The  only  part-time  or  continuation  school  work  done  in  connection 
with  this  industry  is  found  in  the  continuation  school  department  of 
the  Boston  public  schools.  Ninety  girls  employed  in  candy-making 
establishments  are  attending  these  schools  four  hours  per  week  during 
working  hours.  When  the  manufacturers  consented  to  send  girls  to 
these  schools  they  felt  that  they  would  be  compensated  for  the  time 
taken  for  school  work  by  better  and  more  interested  service  when  the 
girls  returned  to  the  candy  factory,  even  though  the  work  given,  which 


106 

is  along  the  line  of  training  for  the  home,  personal  hygiene,  etc.,  has 
no  direct  relation  to  the  work  of  the  factory.  At  any  rate,  they  are 
willing  to  give  up  the  time  and  charge  it  to  welfare  work  if  it  is  a 
complete  loss  to  the  factory. 

Other  Industries. 

Half-time  plans  have  also  been  operated  in  the  following  lines: 
general  office  work,  including  filing,  shipping,  billing,  etc.,  pattern 
making,  drafting,  iron  moulding,  tinsmithing,  saw  making  and  car- 
pentry. A  class  in  brick  laying  and  carpentry  has  attended  school 
full  time  for  a  portion  of  the  dull  season  each  year  for  a  period  of 
six  years  in  the  city  of  Chicago.  Arrangements  have  been  already 
made  to  conduct  classes  in  the  following  lines  of  work  on  a  half-time 
basis:  belt  making,  electrical  work,  automobile  and  carriage  building, 
ship  caulking,  plumbing,  blacksmithing,  coppersmithing,  steam  fitting, 
riveting,  sheet-iron  working,  and  the  operation  of  power  sewing 
machines. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  problems  which  the  part-time  school  will 
have  to  work  out  is  the  program  of  training  for  the  small  community 
with  only  a  few  young  workers  in  each  occupation,  and  for  the  group 
in  larger  places,  made  up  of  a  few  workers  from  miscellaneous  occu- 
pations. It  is  difficult  to  see  how  such  training  can  to  any  extent  be 
vocational  in  its  character,  since  few,  if  any,  of  these  people  will  have 
a  common  experience  or  common  needs.  It  therefore  seems  that  the 
only  possible  work  which  can  be  offered  for  such  classes  will  be  along 
the  line  of  general  or  liberal  training  if  they  are  at  all  likely  to  stay 
in  their  present  occupation.  With  such  classes  in  the  city,  it  should 
be  possible  to  find  teachers  who  are  sufficiently  skilled  to  be  able  to 
use  the  practical  experience  of  the  individual  as  a  basis  for  teaching, 
and  show  how  the  fundamental  subjects  of  reading,  writing  and  arith- 
metic, and  training  in  citizenship,  can  be  applied  to  every-day  life. 
With  such  classes  in  small  communities,  the  teaching  problem  is  very 
much  more  difficult  than  in  the  city,  and  it  will  be  almost  impossible 
to  secure  competent  teachers  for  the  amount  which  is  usually  paid. 

V.    ATTITUDE  OF  THE  WORKERS. 

The  experiment  conducted  in  connection  with  the  department  stores 
in  the  school  for  salesmanship  of  the  Women's  Educational  and  In- 
dustrial Union  and  the  Boston  public  schools  shows  that  the  young 
workers  affected  are  almost  universally  in  favor  of  taking  part-time 
schooling.  Many  cannot  afford,  however,  a  reduction  in  wage,  but  the 
department  stores  have  so  far  been  willing  to  give  them  the  time  with- 
out such  reduction,  and  it  is  believed  that  if  the  public  school  will  do 
efficient,  thorough  work,  the  management  of  the  department  stores  in 
general  will  co-operate. 


107 

Very  little  data  for  the  printing  and  publishing  industry  are  avail- 
able, but  the  few  boys  who  have  started  printing  courses  in  the  all-day 
vocational  schools  have,  whenever  they  have  obtained  a  position  on  a 
part-time  basis,  been  glad  to  continue  in  the  school,  sacrificing  one- 
half  of  their  earnings  for  the  privilege. 

Those  employed  in  the  machine  shops  can  well  afford  a  reduction 
in  wage  sufficiently  large  to  enable  them  to  attend  one  half  the  -time. 
They  realize  the  need  of  this  work  and  wish  to  do  it.  The  exception 
to  this  is  found  where  boys  are  employed  as  specialists  on  different 
machines  in  shops  where  they  are  not  given  the  opportunity  to  change 
to  other  machines,  and  so  use  the  knowledge  gained  in  the  school. 

The  young  people  employed  in  shoe  manufacturing  can  afford  a  re- 
duction in  wages,  and  the  majority  seem  to  realize  the  need  of  training 
and  want  it.  Thirty-seven  and  one  half  per  cent.,  however,  do  not 
want  such  training,  and  would  not  be  willing  to  make  the  sacrifice  in 
wage. 

In  the  textile  business  children  could  afford  some  reduction  in  wage. 
They  are  about  equally  divided  on  the  question  of  the  desirability  of 
part-time  schooling.  Forty-six  per  cent,  of  those  investigated  were 
not  in  favor  of  any  form  of  part-time  schooling,  while  54.1  per  cent, 
did  want  vocational  training  for  the  mill  or  for  some  trade  outside  of 
the  mill. 

Workers  in  the  candy  factories,  especially,  cannot  afford  a  reduction 
in  wage.  Fifty-two  per  cent,  of  the  candy  workers  were  not  interested 
in  any  form  of  training.  Forty-eight  per  cent,  wanted  to  learn  some 
trade  outside  of  the  confectionery  establishment. 

VI.    DETAILED  CONSIDERATION  OF  INDUSTRIES. 
Boot  and  Shoe  Industry. 

In  1908,  practically  all  the  important  shoe  manufacturers  of  Lynn 
declared  themselves  willing  to  assist  any  form  of  part-time  vocational 
school,  but  preferably  one  conducted  on  an  alternating  weekly  plan, 
with  provision  for  full  time  in  the  factory  during  seasons  of  rush.  Of 
the  24  manufacturers  whose  opinions  are  recorded  in  the  files  of  the 
Douglas  commission,  21  were  in  favor;  only  3  did  not  see  how  they 
could  assist. 

The  sentiment  of  the  manufacturers  has  not  changed  to-day.  Ten 
out  of  13  large  representative  factories  in  Lynn,  Brockton,  Haverhill, 
Beverly,  Marlborough  and  other  shoe  towns  favor  part-time  schools; 
2  do  not,  and  1  is  doubtful.  The  management  in  one  of  those  not  in 
favor  is  dissuaded  because  the  factory  has  no  dull  season,  therefore 
a  part-time  school  seems  impracticable.  In  another,  the  management 
is  convinced  that  the  unions  would  not  allow  such  a  scheme  to  succeed. 
The  firm  which  expressed  itself  as  doubtful  was  influenced  by  the 
belief  that  since  Brockton  manufactures  only  a  high-grade  shoe,  it 


108 

would  be  impossible  to  employ  unskilled  help  while  they  are  receiving 
training  in  school.  Now,  the  lack  of  a  dull  season  does  not  constitute 
an  insurmountable  objection,  for  any  scheme  of  part-time  schooling 
would  be  even  easier  of  application  under  conditions  which  are  stable. 
Also,  it  can  be  shown  that  the  unions  have  no  legitimate  ground  for 
objection;  that  no  more  would  be  trained  in  part-time  schools  than 
are  now  allowed  by  their  apprenticeship  rules  of  the  union ;  and  that 
such  a  school  would  tend  to  reduce  the  possibility  for  the  young  worker 
to  specialize  on  a  man's  job.  Finally,  it  is  certainly  possible  in  a  city 
where  a  high  grade  of  work  is  required  for  the  young  workers  to  be 
on  unskilled  work  in  the  factory  and  on  skilled  in  the  school.  The 
returns  from  the  manufacturers  may  therefore  be  considered  as  prac- 
tically unanimous  in  favor  of  part-time  schools. 

The  following  questionnaire  was  used  in  collecting  information,  and 
the  answers  to  the  questions  here  given  are  typical  of  those  received 
from  practically  all  who  made  returns :  — 

COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 

PART-TIME    SCHOOLING    INVESTIGATION,    CHAPTER    64,    KESOLVES    OF    1911. 

Shoe  Study. 

Question  1.  —  Do  you  have  any  system  of  training  for  young  people  in 
the  business,  and  if  so,  in  what  departments? 

Answer.  — "  We  have  no  system  of  training  in   any  department." 

Question  2.  —  What  kind  of  training,  if  any,  is  needed  for  the  shoe 
business? 

Answer.  — "  For  general  work  the  principal  thing  is  to  get  an  idea  of 
the  work  going  through  the  factory,  and  how  to  assemble  various  parts 
used  in  making  shoes." 

Question  2a. —  Is  there  a  scarcity  of  skilled  operatives  of  any  kind? 

Answer.  —  "  Governed  somewhat  by  general  business." 

Question  2~b. —  Is  there  a  need  of  foremen  or  superintendents  having  a 
knowledge  of  all  the  processes  of  the  factory? 

Answer.  —  "  Yes." 

Question  3.  —  Would  it  be  of  advantage  to  the  workers  to  have  a  knowl- 
edge of  all  the  different  operations  in  the  making  of  a  shoe? 

Answer.  —  "  Yes,  for  promotion." 

Question  3a.  —  Would  this  be  an  advantage  to  the  business? 

Answer.  —  "  From  a  broad  point  of  view  it  would  be  an  advantage." 

Question  4.  —  Is  there  a  dull  season  in  your  factory  when  training  might 
be  given? 

Answer.  —  "  No." 

Question  5.  —  Would  you  approve  of  a  school  so  organized  that  young 
people  could  get  a  general  training  in  the  principal  processes  of  the 
different  departments?  (This  school  to  be  so  organized  that  two  workers 
could  be  employed  on  each  job,  alternating  every  other  week,  that  is,  one 
week  in  the  school  and  one  week  in  the  shop ;  if  necessary,  both  to  be  em- 
ployed in  the  shop  all  the  time  during  rush  season  and  both  to  attend 
school  all  the  time  during  the  dull  season.) 


109 

Answer.  — "  Yes,  if  the  work  could  be  carried  on  independent  of  the 
regular  factory  work,  or,  in  other  words,  if  the  school  could  be  run  on 
work  designed  for  that  purpose  and  not  interfere  with  the  regular  system." 

Question  6.  —  Would  such  a  system  of  training  make  for  promotion  to 
the  commercial  or  jobbing  side  of  the  business? 

Answer.  —  "  Yes." 

Question  7.  —  Would  general  knowledge  of  the  manufacture  of  shoes  be 
of  advantage  to  the  salesman? 

Answer.  —  "  Most   decidedly,  yes." 

An  expression  of  opinion  of  this  kind  is  not  surprising,  for  it  is 
certainly  true  that  it  would  be  much  cheaper  for  the  manufacturer  to 
have  his  workers  trained  in  school  than  be  obliged  to  train  them  in 
the  factory,  and  far  better  than  to  leave  the  training  to  inefficient 
private  schools,  or  to  allow  them  to  pick  up  or  "  steal  the  trade." 

There  are  some  factories  in  isolated  districts  in  which  an  effort  is 
made  to  teach  the  employees  in  more  or  less  systematic  fashion.  They 
pay  more  than  the  learners  really  earn,  because  if  they  do  not  the 
young  workers  will  get  discouraged  and  leave,  and  because  it  is  neces- 
sary, for  sake  of  the  good  name  of  a  firm,  to  pay  something  approach- 
ing a  living  wage  to  every  employee.  Where  a  school  provides  the 
training,  it  would  be  possible  for  the  worker  to  be  employed  on  un- 
skilled work  in  the  factory,  on  which  he  could  really  earn  a  decent 
wage,  until  he  has  acquired  sufficient  knowledge  in  the  school  to  enable 
him  to  earn  a  fair  wage  on  a  better  job.  Even  with  training  of  the 
most  general  character  provided  in  school,  the  time  necessary  to  learn 
in  the  factory  would  be  greatly  reduced.  There  is  a  direct  loss,  at 
present,  to  the  industry  in  the  bonus  paid  to  the  unskilled  worker. 
Beside  that,  there  is  the  loss  due  to  spoiled  work,  unnecessary  machine 
space  and  the  overhead  cost  of  the  instruction.  With  a  careful  in- 
structor the  item  of  spoiled  work  is  reduced  to  a  minimum,  but  the 
other  two  items  it  is  impossible  to  reduce.  The  manufacturer  who 
teaches  his  own  help  bears  a  large  financial  burden,  and  it  is  not 
astonishing  that  he  should  welcome  the  assistance  of  a  school. 

There  are  other  factories,  in  fact  whole  centers,  in  which  apparently 
nothing  is  done  toward  teaching  help.  In  these  centers  those  who  have 
facility  for  picking  up  or  "  stealing  their  trade  "  flourish,  but  this  is 
an  expensive  process  for  the  manufacturer.  A  worker  picks  up  a 
trade  by  watching  an  operative  until  he  gets  a  chance  to  try  the  work 
himself;  then  by  working  during  odd  minutes  when  the  machine  is 
idle  he  acquires  enough  knowledge  to  "  bluff  the  job."  A  person  who 
is  trying  to  pick  up  a  job  is  not  doing  his  own  work  very  carefully, 
and  a  person  who  is  "  bluffing  a  job  "  will  spoil  more  work  in  a  day 
than  a  green  hand  under  a  skilled  instructor  would  spoil  in  a  month. 
Of  course  with  these,  as  with  all  learners,  the  machine  is  not  yielding 
its  full  return.  "  Stealing  "  and  "  bluffing  "  are  similar,  except  that  in 
"stealing"  the  worker  picks  up  his  trade  without  the  knowledge  of 


110 

the  head  of  the  room  and  is  therefore  likely  to  do  more  damage.  The 
practice  survives,  because  the  manufacturers  hope  to  draw  all  their 
skilled  help  either  from  other  towns  or  from  other  shops.  A  large 
portion  of  the  skilled  help  does  come  from  outside,  but  there  are  still 
many  of  the  young  people  of  the  shoe  cities  who  wish  to  enter  the 
trade.  To  them  the  gates  are  closed,  and  they  must  scale  them  to  the 
detriment  of  all  concerned  in  some  such  fashion  as  has  been  described. 

It  is  in  these  same  centers  that  the  private  shoe  school  nourishes. 
These  schools  charge  from  $5  to  $75  to  teach  a  job,  depending  on  the 
kind.  If  they  really  did  efficient  work  there  would  be  no  objection 
to  them,  except  the  expense  to  the  pupils,  who  are  largely  foreigners, 
—  the  illiterate,  poverty-oppressed,  unintelligent  newcomers,  the  group 
least  able  to  afford  the  training.  But  the  schools  do  not  do  efficient 
work.  In  spite  of  the  high  cost  of  tuition,  their  pupils  are  less  desired 
by  the  manufacturers  than  green  hands.  The  school  simply  gives 
them  what  the  first  stage  of  the  "  picking-up  process  "  does,  a  basis 
for  a  "bluff."  When  they  leave  the  school  they  soon  find  that  their 
training  is  no  recommendation,  so  they  pose  as  skilled  hands,  and 
enter  on  their  career  of  spoiling  work  and  getting  "fired,"  until  ex- 
perience at  last  makes  them  really  skilled.  It  is  evident  that  this 
method  of  learning  is  a  costly  one  for  the  manufacturer.  Undoubtedly 
it  would  be  cheaper  for  all  concerned,  except  perhaps  the  few  small 
shops  which  do  custom  work  and  employ  only  the  highest  priced 
workers,  to  support  the  State  in  an  effort  to  establish  part-time  schools. 

Eeplacing  Pupils.  —  No  manufacturer  objected  to  the  plan  on  the 
score  that  there  is  a  shortage  of  help  among  the  fourteen  to  seventeen 
year  old  workers.  The  number  of  children  employed  in  this  and  in 
the  other  skilled  and  semiskilled  industries  is  a  very  small  proportion 
of  the  total  number.  There  is  a  very  large  supply  of  unskilled  help, 
just  as  there  is  a  very  limited  supply  of  skilled  help.1  It  would  there- 
fore be  perfectly  possible  to  get  the  extra  force  required  to  conduct 
a  scheme  of  part-time  schooling. 

Unions.  —  The  manufacturers  look  for  objections  to  such  a  plan  on 
the  part  of  the  labor  unions.  The  unions  might  very  properly  object 
if  the  purpose  of  this  training  were  to  produce  none  but  specialized 
workmen  on  the  big-priced  jobs,  or  if  such  a  result  were  to  be  inevi- 
table. Of  course  that  is  not  what  the  school  aims  to  do;  it  aims  to 
give  such  a  general  knowledge  of  the  trade  as  to  open  the  way  to 
future  advancement  in  the  trade  along  the  usual  channels,  guarded  in 
whatever  way  the  unions  may  see  fit  to  guard  them.  The  purpose  is  to 
prepare  young  people  to  work  towards  the  top,  but  it  could  not  give 
them  training  which  would  enable  them  to  begin  to  work  immediately 
on  any  highly  skilled  work.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  schools  will  tend 

1  Opinions  differ  here.    The  unions  report  that  there  are  always  skilled  men  who  are  unem- 
ployed, and  the  manufacturers  report  that  they  cannot  get  enough  skilled  help  or  foremen. 


Ill 

to  keep  those  few  young  workers  who  could  succeed  in  overstepping  the 
barriers  set  up  by  the  union  from  specializing  early.  They  could  do 
exactly  what  the  unions  aim  to  do,  —  serve  to  keep  the  men's  jobs  for 
men.  The  unions  do  not  object  to  schools  whose  purpose  is  general 
training,  and  it  is  probable  that  a  complete  understanding  of  the  situa- 
tion will  remove  all  objections. 

The  local  unions,  including  cutters,  treers,  heelers,  sole  fasteners, 
rough  rounders,  stockfitters  and  Goodyear  operators,  which  have  more 
or  less  uniform  rules  as  to  the  number  of  new  people  to  be  admitted 
to  the  separate  trades,  teach  or  allow  to  be  taught  annually  an  average 
of  4.9  per  cent,  of  the  total  membership  of  the  union.  Now  there  are 
only  3  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  employed  in  shoes  between  four- 
teen and  seventeen,  and  only  one  third  of  the  number,  or  1  per  cent., 
would  finish  the  school  training  each  year.  There  are,  it  is  true,  some 
unions  which  do  not  allow  any  one  to  learn  the  trade  practiced  by  its 
members,  but  there  are  others  which  place  no  restriction  of  this  sort, 
and  the  latter  are  larger  in  number  though  not  so  powerful  as  the 
others. 

There  is  very  little  help  to  be  gained  from  previous  experiments 
abroad.  There  are  continuation  schools  for  shoemakers'  apprentices 
in  Vermelskirchen,  Breslau,  Munich,  Erfurt  and  Hanover,  but  only  in 
Vermelskirchen  is  there  any  system  of  training  for  the  factory  worker. 
The  American  consul  at  Breslau  says  that  "  176  shoemakers'  appren- 
tices are  instructed  in  special  classes,  attention  being  paid  to  the  ma- 
terial with  which  they  work  and  the  problems  connected  with  their 
profession,  whereas  the  ordinary  shoe-factory  employees  are  classed 
with  delivery  boys  and  other  unskilled  workers,  and  given  only  a  very 
general  instruction." 

At  Erfurt  the  situation  is  similar.  "  The  shoemaker  class  of  the 
above  school  [evening  trade  school]  is  organized  chiefly  for  the  benefit 
of  the  journeymen  in  the  workshops,  and  not  for  the  workers  in  shoe 
factories.  As  the  latter  are  either  mere  operatives  or  masters  of  but 
one  branch  of  the  shoemaking  industry,  they  could  put  to  little  or  no 
practical  use  most  of  the  many-sided  instructions  given  in  a  trade 
school  intended  primarily  for  the  shoemakers  who  make  shoes  to 
measure."  That  is,  it  is  apparent  that  in  Germany  the  hand  workmen 
and  the  small  shop  are  still  the  largest  and  most  honored  part  of  the 
shoemaking  industry;  that  the  apprenticeship  system  still  persists  for 
these  hand  workers,  and  is  further  supplemented  by  school  instruction; 
and  that  no  plans  have  been  made  for  the  training  of  the  factory 
worker.  It  is  an  entirely  different  problem  here,  where  the  hand  work- 
men are  an  exceedingly  small  proportion  of  the  total  number  employed, 
and  are  growing  less  each  year. 

In  Vermelskirchen  there  has  been  for  some  time  a  shoe  school  in 
which  all  the  machine  operations  of  the  factory  have  been  successfully 


112 

taught.  It  has  also  taught  new  systems  and  ideas  in  factory  manage- 
ment, but  has  not  presented  that  wider  aspect  of  civic  and  industrial 
life  which  should  be  presented  to  the  young  working  citizen.  The 
school  at  Vermelskirchen  is  a  full-time  day  school,  running  forty-four 
hours  a  week,  with  thirty-four  hours  of  practical  work  and  ten  hours 
of  theoretical. 

The  German  schools  have  many  suggestions  for  the  trade  training 
of  our  young  workers,  but  their  programs  would  need  supplementing 
on  the  liberal  side. 

In  Great  Britain  there  are  nine  school  centers  for  factory  workers; 
London,  Bristol,  Northampton,  Leicester,  Stafford,  Leeds,  Glasgow, 
Cork  and  Dublin.  Some  have  both  day  and  night  courses,  and  some, 
such  as  the  Northampton  schools,  are  merely  night  schools,  but  there 
are  no  part-time  schools.  The  students  in  the  day  schools  are  usually 
the  sons  of  owners  or  superintendents,  while  the  students  in  evening 
schools  are  factory  or  shop  workers  of  three  or  more  years'  experience. 
The  instruction  covers  all  the  operations,  as  well  as  the  study  of  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  material,  shop  management,  etc.  This  instruction,  as 
well  as  that  in  the  German  schools,  can  furnish  much  helpful  informa- 
tion on  the  technical  side,  but  it  has  nothing  to  suggest  for  the  relating 
of  other  training  to  the  work.  In  this  larger  aspect  the  schools  of 
Massachusetts  will  be  the  first  of  their  kind. 

Textile  Industry. 

The  owners  and  superintendents  of  textile  mills  appear  to  be  less 
cordial  to  the  idea  of  part-time  schooling  than  are  shoe  manufacturers, 
but  from  the  records  of  the  industrial  commission  it  appears  that 
many  of  the  textile  manufacturers  would  be  willing  to  co-operate  in 
a  plan  of  part-time  schooling.  When  these  same  manufacturers  were 
approached  during  this  investigation,  however,  it  was  found  that  they 
were  willing  to  consider  such  a  plan  for  selected  groups  or  a  compara- 
tively small  number,  but  were  not  willing  to  consider  it  for  the  whole 
group  between  fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age.  Of  the  14  manu- 
facturers outside  of  Lawrence  who  expressed  themselves  on  this  ques- 
tion, only  3  were  in  favor  of  a  plan  which  would  affect  the  whole  group. 
One  of  these  is  actually  co-operating  on  a  small  scale  with  the  part- 
time  school  in  Fitchburg.  The  14  whose  opinions  are  on  record  are 
all  responsible  people,  mill  agents  or  treasurers,  the  men  who  in  the 
final  resort  would  settle  the  question  for  their  mills;  yet  the  50  or  so 
overseers  and  superintendents  interviewed  said  that  there  was  nothing 
in  the  organization  of  the  work  that  would  prevent  such  a  plan  from 
being  carried  out.  Many  had  seen  the  plan  worked  out  under  similar 
conditions  in  England  and  were  convinced  of  its  practicability.  The 
difficulty  which  they  could  foresee  would  be  the  scarcity  of  help  of 
this  age.  They  said  that  it  would  probably  be  impossible  to  work  it 


113 

out,  since  already  it  is  difficult  to  secure  enough  young  help,  and  a  half- 
time  plan  would  double  the  demand. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  6  textile  manufacturers  in  Lawrence  there  was 
unanimous  indorsement  of  the  part-time  plan  for  selected  groups. 
They  all  felt  the  need  of  further  education  for  all  their  employees, 
and  were  willing  to  co-operate  in  any  way  possible  in  a  project  fdr 
furnishing  'it  to  them.  They  signified  their  readiness  to  take  as  many 
pairs  of  boys  and  girls  as  the  school  could  furnish  on  a  half-time  basis. 
But  here,  too,  the  manufacturers  foresee  great  difficulty  in  securing 
sufficient  help  to  enable  them  to  extend  the  plan  to  include  all  of  their 
workers.  The  manufacturers  of  Fall  River,  New  Bedford  and  Lowell 
feel  that  there  is  already  sufficient  opportunity  for  ambitious  young 
people  to  get  training  in  the  evening  schools.  It  is  the  isolated  centers 
which  feel  most  keenly  the  need  for  the  training. 

It  is  the  difficulty  of  securing  enough  young  workers  that  needs  most 
to  be  considered,  for  it  is  certainly  true  that  there  is  already  an  insuffi- 
cient supply  of  young  unskilled  help,  and  any  plan  for  part-time 
schooling  would  increase  the  demand.  Eighty  per  cent,  of  the  age  and 
schooling  certificates  granted  in  Fall  River  were  granted  to  children 
to  enter  the  cotton  mills.  That  is,  four  fifths  of  all  the  children  in 
Fall  River  who  for  one  reason  or  another  go  to  work  enter  the  cotton 
industry.  It  would,  then,  apparently  be  impossible  to  secure  an  extra 
force,  equal  to  the  original,  for  a  half-time  plan. 

A  more  hopeful  aspect  of  this  case  is  presented  by  a  situation  which 
is  in  itself  exceedingly  grave  in  this  whole  problem  of  the  young 
worker.  It  was  found,  by  a  comparison  of  the  number  of  age  and 
schooling  certificates  granted  to  fourteen-year-old  workers  with  the 
number  of  children  found  by  the  truant  officers  in  the  mills,  that  appar- 
ently many  enter  the  industry,  stay  in  it  but  a  very  short  time,  and 
soon  join  the  idlers  on  the  streets.  It  is  from  this  floating  group  that 
the  part-time  school  must  hope  to  draw. 

A  comparison  of  the  figures  in  column  1  with  those  in  columns  2  and 
3  in  Table  II.,  page  103,  shows  that  about  twice  as  many  secure  age 
and  schooling  certificates  as  are  found  at  work  in  the  mill.  This  can- 
not be  due  to  the  taking  of  certificates  for  summer  employment  as  it 
was  found  that  very  few,  if  any,  do  this.  Once  they  leave  school  they 
rarely  return,  and  they  apparently  do  not  remain  at  work. 

It  is  impossible  to  predict  just  what  the  cotton  manufacturers  would 
do  if  part-time  schooling  were  to  be  made  compulsory.  Many  stated 
that  they  would  not  employ  these  young  workers  unless  they  could  do 
so  for  full  time;  others  were  doubtful,  and  wished  to  see  what  their 
neighbors  would  do.  In  all  probability,  many  manufacturers  would 
cease  to  employ  boys  and  girls,  but  others  would  hire  those  discharged. 

It  is  difficult  to  determine  just  what  obstacles  will  be  met  in  attempt- 
ing to  organize  the  work  of  different  departments  in  the  mill  so  that 


114 

an  extra  force  can  be  employed  to  do  the  same  work,  and  thus  avoid 
stopping  the  machines,  while  these  young  workers  are  attending  school. 
Many  employers  stated  emphatically  that  it  would  be  impossible  to 
secure  a  force  of  one  sixth  more  young  workers,  so  that  those  now 
employed  could  attend  school  one  day  per  week,  approximately  one 
sixth  of  their  working  time.  It  was  found,  however,  that  in  some  mills 
just  this  thing  is  being  done  on  a  small  scale,  to  fill  the  places  of  those 
who  are  out  sick.  In  some  cases  extra  workers,  "  spare  hands,"  are 
employed  regularly;  in  other  cases  these  extra  helpers  are  hired  from 
day  to  day. 

The  problem  admits  of  another  solution.  Some  portion  of  the 
younger  help  could  be  replaced  by  older  help  at  a  higher  wage.  This 
has  been  done  in  some  mills,  and  it  has  been  found  that  the  increased 
wage  is  more  than  justified  by  the  greater  efficiency  of  the  worker. 
That  is,  the  actual  labor  cost  is  lower.  Even  supposing  an  actual 
present  increase  in  labor  cost  through  the  employment  of  such  older 
help,  the  far-sighted  manufacturer  would  agree  to  the  proposition  since 
it  would  be  the  condition  for  a  future  reduction  in  his  labor  cost. 

It  has  been  stated  that  older  help  cannot,  for  physical  reasons,  do 
the  work  which  is  done  by  boys  and  girls,  especially  in  the  spinning 
rooms.  Two  reasons  given  are  that  the  spinning  frames  are  too  low 
for  older  workers,  —  a  condition  which  could  be  met  by  building  them 
higher  or  blocking  them  up,  —  and  that  the  spinners,  especially  those 
on  the  finer  counts,  must  begin  at  twelve  or  fourteen  years  of  age  for 
their  fingers  to  acquire  the  ability  to  do  the  "  piecing  up." 

No  unanimity  of  opinion  was  found  among  the  overseers  of  spin- 
ning rooms  who  were  interviewed.  Some  claimed  that  any  one  could 
learn  to  do  spinning  in  a  few  minutes,  and  some  claimed  the  opposite. 
The  obvious  answer  seems  to  be  that  older  people  are  now  being  taught, 
and  the  chief  investigator  learned  how  to  do  "  piecing  up  "  in  a  few 
minutes.  The  finest  spinning  in  the  mill  is  done  on  the  mule,  and 
men  sixty  and  seventy  years  old  were  found  doing  this  work.  The 
mule  spinner  begins  to  learn  his  trade  at  about  eighteen  years  of  age. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  worker  the  practicability  of  a  part- 
time,  plan  cannot  be  seriously  questioned.  It  is  true,  there  is  no  possi- 
bility at  present  of  inducing  the  manufacturers  to  allow  their  young 
help  to  go  to  school  without  making  a  reduction  in  pay  proportionate 
to  the  amount  of  time  allowed,  but  the  children  of  the  textile  industry 
have  a  higher  proportionate  wage  and  a  lower  standard  of  living  than 
those  in  an  unskilled  industry.  It  is  always  true  that  the  wages  of  the 
children  in  an  unskilled  industry  approach  more  nearly  those  of  adult 
help  than  they  do  in  a  semiskilled  industry,  such  as  shoe  manufactur- 
ing, or  in  a  skilled  industry,  such  as  the  machine  trade.  It  is  the 
opinion  of  the  investigators,  who  visited  over  300  of  the  young  textile 
workers,  that  they  could,  in  most  cases,  afford  the  reduction. 


115 

A  great  deal  has  been  said  about  the  Half -time  system  in  force  in  the 
cotton  centers  in  England.  It  is  entirely  different  from  anything  pro- 
posed in  this  State,  being  really  nothing  but  a  compromise  made  with 
employers  of  very  young  help  when  the  school  age  was  raised  to  four- 
teen years.  It  permits  children  from  twelve  to  fourteen  years  of  age 
to  be  employed  half-time  in  the  mills.  There  is  no  attempt  at  all  to 
relate  the  training  in  the  school  to  the  work  in  the  factory;  it  is  merely 
the  usual  grammar  school  course  taken  in  alternate  half-days  with  the 
usual  full-time  students.  It  surely  must  mean  either  a  retardation  of 
the  full-time  group  or  an  uncomfortably  stiff  pace  for  the  half-time 
group;  at  all  events,  the  system  is  fast  dying  a  natural  death.  Man- 
chester, the  great  cotton  center,  has  practically  no  half-timers;  Bolton, 
Bradford  and  Oldham  still  have  some,  but  the  number  is  decreasing 
each  year.  It  is  not  the  manufacturers  who  have  prevented  the  enact- 
ment of  a  law  forbidding  the  employment  of  children  under  fourteen, 
thus  providing  full-time  school  training  up  to  that  age;  it  is  the  work- 
ing people  themselves  who  do  not  wish  it.  They  cannot  bear,  or  feel 
that  they  cannot  afford,  to  forego  the  slight  income  which  these  half- 
timers  bring  in.  The  part-time  schooling  system  in  England,  then,  has 
no  suggestions  to  offer  to  the  part-time  schools  of  Massachusetts,  except 
that  it  proves  that  two  persons  can  work  on  the  same  job  and  change 
every  half  day. 

In  Leicester  there  is  something  more  nearly  approaching  the  pro- 
posed Massachusetts  plan.  This  school  has  both  day  and  evening 
courses  for  the  knitting  industry.  The  day  school  gives  a  special 
course  in  knitting  on  Mondays  and  Thursdays  from  2  to  5  o'clock, 
which  is  attended  by  apprentices  from  the  factories  and  by  students 
in  other  departments  of  the  school  who  want  to  get  a  general  knowl- 
edge of  conditions  in  all  trades  of  the  vicinity.  This  school  is  very 
successful,  and  is  highly  regarded  by  both  manufacturers  and  workers. 

In  the  German  Empire  there  are  many  continuation  schools  for  the 
fourteen  to  seventeen  year  old  group  of  workers.  In  some  of  the 
States  attendance  is  compulsory;  in  some  not,  but  the  tendency  is 
decidedly  toward  compulsory  attendance.  We  know  very  little  about 
the  textile  instruction  there,  but  if  shoe-factory  employees  are  classed 
with  errand  boys  and  other  unskilled  help,  and  given  only  the  general 
instruction  provided  for  that  group,  it  is  hardly  to  be  expected  that 
more  special  instruction  would  be  provided  for  textile  workers. 

Department  Stores. 

That  a  plan  of  part-time  schooling  for  department  stores  is  prac- 
tical has  been  proved  by  the  success  of  the  school  for  salesmanship 
started  six  years  ago  by  the  Women's  Educational  and  Industrial 
Union.  There  are  no  material  difficulties  in  the  way;  the  school  re- 
quires little  or  no  equipment  beyond  blackboards  and  chairs,  and  the 


116 


stores  are  favorably  inclined  to  the  plan  and  are  willing  to  send  more 
children  than  the  school  can  accommodate.  The  difficulty  lies  in  getting 
efficient  teachers.  The  demand  for  them  from  the  stores  has  been  so 
great  that  they  have  been  "spoken  for"  before  they  have  completed 
their  training  at  the  Women's  Educational  and  Industrial  Union  School. 
Good  teachers  will  be  expensive,  but  this  difficulty  can  be  properly 
met  in  time,  and  with  a  proper  expenditure  of  money  nothing  remains 
to  make  the  plan  anything  but  eminently  practicable.1 

Confectionery  Industry. 

In  several  of  the  large  candy  factories  some  of  the  employees  have 
been  sent  to  continuation  schools  during  working  hours  as  a  matter 
of  philanthropy.  These  are  usually  girls  who  are  about  to  be  married, 
and  they  take  their  time  at  the  school  at  the  expense  of  the  manu- 
facturers. A  more  general  plan  of  part-time  schooling  would  be  quite 
different  from  this,  however.  Twenty-six  and  five  tenths  per  cent,  of 
all  the  women  workers  in  candy  factories  are  seventeen  years  of  age 
or  under. 

The  difficulty  comes  rather  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  worker, 
whose  wages  are  extremely  low.  If  they  were  to  be  "  docked  "  for  the 
time  spent  at  the  school,  it  would  be  a  severe  hardship. 

Cumulative  number  and  percentage  of  women  wage  earners  investi- 
gated in  candy  factories  under  eighteen  years  of  age,  classified  by 
earnings.3 


Number. 

Per  cent. 

Under  14, 

110 

36  6 

Under  $5,     . 

240 

79  8 

Under  $6  . 

280 

93  0 

Under  $7  

298 

99  o 

Under  $8,     

300 

99  7 

1 

3 

Total  

301 

100.0 

Seventy-nine  per  cent,  of  those  under  eighteen  get  less  then  $5,  93 
per  cent,  get  less  than  $6.  This  does  not  leave  a  large  margin  for 
part-time  schooling.  The  statement  is  made  in  the  report8  that  "no 
one  at  all  conversant  with  the  facts  believes  that  any  proportion  of 
the  women  workers  do  not  need  every  cent  they  earn."  Only  "1.2 
per  cent,  of  the  candy  workers  gave  none  of  their  wages  to  the  home  " 
(97.3  per  cent,  live  at  home5),  "78.5  per  cent,  gave  all  they  earned;  " 


i  For  a  further  discussion  of  need  and  practicability  of  training  for  this  group  see  Appendix  G. 
*  Minimum  Wage  Report,  p.  51.  «  Ibid.,  p.  80.  «  Ibid.,  p.  79.  *  Ibid.,  p.  78. 


117 

22.1  per  cent,  had  received  charitable  assistance,  as  compared  to  12.7 
per  cent,  in  department  stores.  It  seems,  therefore,  almost  impossible 
to  expect  these  girls  to  give  up  any  portion  of  their  wages  for  part- 
time  schooling. 

The  following  table  seems  to  show  that  the  more  prosperous  and 
older  workers  would  not  afford  a  wage  reduction,  whereas  more  than 
half  of  the  minors  would  do  so.  This  may  be  taken  as  an  indication 
of  the  proportion  finally  able  to  afford  some  reduction,  for  nearly  all 
the  workers  interviewed  were  interested  in  one  form  or  another  for 
further  training.  The  proposition  to  give  some  Saturday  afternoon 
classes  was  met  with  almost  universal  favor. 


Attitude  toward  wage  reduction. 


GROUP  AT 

WORK 
ONE  YEAR. 

GROUP  AT 

WORK 
SIX  YEARS. 

Yes. 

No. 

Yes. 

No. 

Number  of  young  workers,    .... 

12 

10 

8 

28 

Number  of  parents  of  workers, 

13 

9 

71 

IQi 

Attitude  toward  Saturday  afternoon  classes. 


Favoring. 

Opposed. 

One-year  group,  

13 

4 

Six-year  group  

35 

11 

Part-time  schooling  for  candy  workers  would  be  a  very  much  needed 
help.  As  a  group  they  are  inefficient,  and  need  some  outside  stimulus 
and  training  to  pull  them  above  the  line  at  which  they  earn  a  bare 
existence.  They  cannot,  however,  as  a  group,  afford  any  considerable 
reduction  in  wage,  and  would  much  prefer  to  give  up  their  free  Satur- 
day afternoons. 

Machine  Industry." 

Because  of  the  high  degree  of  skill  required,  together  with  the  ability 
to  do  independent  thinking,  employers  of  machine  shop  help  are  more 
decidedly  in  favor  of  part-time  schooling  than  any  other  group.  Six- 
teen will  co-operate  with  any  form  of  part-time  school,  while  two 
definitely  refuse  to  do  so  and  three  are  doubtful.  Practical  work  in 
the  industry  has  shown  that  manufacturers  who  were  opposed  to  the 
plan  a  few  years  ago  are  now  its  most  enthusiastic  advocates.2 


1  No  information  for  19 


2  See  pp.  119-123,  letters  from  manufacturers. 


118 

The  first  part-time  schools  in  the  United  States  were  developed  in 
connection  with  this  industry.  Wherever  they  have  been  established 
through  the  co-operation  of  a  few  manufacturers,  they  have  gradually 
grown  to  include  most  of  the  important  manufacturers  and  many  of 
the  small  ones.  In  Fitchburg  and  Cincinnati  the  plan  is  a  proved 
success  for  the  machine  shops.  Furthermore,  manufacturers  in  other 
communities,  realizing  the  value  of  the  training,  are  joining  in  the 
movement.  Quincy  and  Beverly  have  had  schools  for  some  time;  Fall 
River  and  Newton  have  started  schools,  and  other  cities  outside  of  the 
State  propose  to  do  so. 

The  mechanical  difficulty  of  arranging  the  shifts  or  workers  is 
greater  in  this  trade  than  in  any  other  studied,  but  since  it  has  been 
done  in  Fitchburg,  Cincinnati,  Beverly,  Quincy,  Worcester  and  New- 
ton, it  can  be  done  in  other  places,  and  the  resulting  increase  in  intelli- 
gence and  efficiency  will  more  than  compensate  for  the  trouble. 

No  difficulty  need  be  anticipated  from  the  young  workers  themselves. 
The  higher  the  type  of  industry  the  more  prosperous  the  family  from 
which  the  young  worker  comes,  and  if  a  reduction  in  wage  propor- 
tionate to  the  amount  of  time  taken  for  training  should  be  necessary, 
the  group  would  probably  be  able  to  afford  it;  but  it  is  probable  that 
it  will  not  be  necessary.  Only  one  of  the  sixteen  manufacturers  who 
are  willing  to  co-operate  mentioned  a  reduction  as  a  condition  neces- 
sary for  the  co-operation. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  expense  to  the  State  there  is  nothing 
alarming.  Very  little  equipment  is  necessary  for  teaching  related 
mechanics,  mathematics  and  mechanical  drawing.  A  few  of  the  funda- 
mental machines  for  demonstration  and  illustration  are,  of  course, 
necessary,  but  anything  beyond  that  can  come  only  as  means  permit. 
It  is  desirable,  but  not  absolutely  necessary,  that  there  should  be  enough 
to  go  far  towards  teaching  the  trade,  but  the  absolutely  necessary 
equipment  would  involve  a  prohibitory  expense. 

Considering  that  manufacturers  so  generally  favor  the  school,  that 
young  people  are  so  much  in  need  of  training  and  are  so  well  able  to 
afford  it,  and  that  the  necessary  equipment  is  of  moderate  cost,  part- 
time  schooling  for  machine  shops  is  certainly  practicable.1  The  fact 
that  so  much  has  been  done  already  along  this  line,  and  that  the  work 
is  developing  rapidly,  is  the  best  answer  to  any  question  which  may  be 
raised  regarding  practicability  for  the  machine  industry. 

i  See  pp.  65  and  117. 


119 


VIII.  OPINIONS  OF  EMPLOYERS  AS  TO  THE  NEED  AND  PRACTICABILITY 
or  PART-TIME  SCHOOLING,  VOCATIONAL  OR  OTHERWISE. 

The  following  are  some  of  the  replies  received  from  employers  who 
were  asked  to  express  an  opinion  as  to  the  practicability  of  part-time 
schooling,  and  whether  or  not  they  would  be  willing  to  co-operate  in 
the  establishment  of  some  scheme. 

Regarding  the  machine  business,  one  manufacturer  writes :  — 

From  our  point  of  view,  so  far  as  our  business  is  concerned  we  do  not 
believe  in  the  half-time  schooling,  vocational  or  otherwise.  We  believe 
that  a  boy  or  girl  should  be  compelled  to  attend  school,  wherever  possible, 
until  at  least  a  common  school  education  has  been  obtained,  and  then  such 
boy  or  girl  should  acquire  some  trade  or  profession,  serving  an  apprentice- 
ship of  the  time  necessary  to  acquire  such  a  trade. 

It  is  extremely  difficult  to  obtain  the  proper  kind  of  labor  to-day  in  this 
section.  We  are  able  to  obtain  plenty  of  unskilled  labor,  which  is  usually 
uneducated,  and  in  most  cases  unfamiliar  with  the  English  language. 
The  kind  of  labor  we  are  looking  for  is  intelligent,  high-grade,  first-class 
labor,  and  it  is  difficult  to  procure.  If  we  employ  help  under  seventeen, 
we  would  not  be  disposed  to  break  up  their  working  time  by  sending  them 
to  school  one  day  a  week.  This  interferes  with  business,  and  we  believe 
the  best  thing  to  do  is  to  give  a  boy  and  a  girl  a  common  school  educa- 
tion and  then  have  them  serve  an  apprenticeship,  or  go  into  shop  work, 
where  good  wages  may  be  obtained. 

We  have  a  great  many  employees  here  earning  from  $18  to  $25  a  week 
who  never  served  an  apprenticeship  and  never  saw  a  machine  shop  until 
they  came  into  our  own. 

This  firm  employs  none  under  seventeen  years  of  age. 

One  large  employer  of  labor,  whose  plant  is  operated  upon  a  system 
which  has  cost  thousands  of  dollars  to  perfect,  the  operations  of  which 
are  based  on  a  fixed  payment, for  a  unit  of  separate  operations,  either 
one  hundred  or  one  thousand,  regardless  of  the  machine  used,  writes 
as  follows  (this  employer  has  not  any  regular  system  of  apprentices)  : 
"  It  would  interfere  materially  with  us  if  we  were  to  give  employees 
under  seventeen  years  of  age  any  time  off  for  part-time  school,  that 
is  to  say,  so  far  as  we  employ  such  employees."  (Out  of  2,400  men 
only  about  25  or  30  boys  are  under  seventeen.)  "  The  trouble  would 
be  that  we  should  lose  the  product  of  so  much  of  our  plant  as  their 
employment  would  represent."  This  employer  suggests  that  the  boys 
spend  Saturday  afternoons  in  the  furtherance  of  their  education,  as 
formerly  the  boys  were  obliged  to  work  on  Saturday  afternoon. 

Another  employer  is  quite  enthusiastic.    He  says :  — 

There  certainly  is  a  great  need  for  vocational  education  here  in  New 
England.  Beginning  with  the  automobile  boom  the  east  has  been  drawn 
on  constantly  for  our  best  men,  and  we  are  doing  practically  nothing  to 
replace  them.  Besides  this,  the  middle  west  has  made  great  strides  in  this 


120 

line  of  education,  and  will  in  a  very  few  years  have  the  best-trained  men 
in  the  country  in  their  shops.  New  England  cannot  afford  to  stand  still. 
It  has  been  our  boast,  and  one  founded  on  facts,  that  our  products  were 
superior,  because  of  our  skilled  workmen.  We  are  therefore  not  only  in 
danger  of  a  scarcity  of  skilled  mechanics,  but  of  losing  our  hard-earned 
reputation,  as  we  will  if  we  fail  to  produce  high-grade  machinery  through 
inefficient  workmen.  A  few  schools  in  the  east  have  adopted  this  plan  with 
success,  notable  at  Fitchburg,  but  when  we  see  the  strides  Cincinnati  alone 
is  making  in  this  direction  it  makes  us  feel  like  crying  a  warning  to  our 
educators  and  legislators  that  there  is  a  great  need  for  activity  in  this 
direction  here  in  Massachusetts.  There  is  also  a  great  need  for  a  good 
apprenticeship  system,  but  unfortunately  it  is  growing  very  difficult  to 
get  good  boys  to  go  into  it.  The  part-time  system  is  intensely  practicable 
for  many  reasons.  It  is  attractive,  first,  because  it  allows  the  boy  to  go 
on  with  his  mates  in  the  school  life;  and  second,  because  it  gives  him 
enough  money  to  pay  his  board  during  the  time  he  is  not  only  getting  an 
education  but  also  learning  a  trade.  The  chief  success  of  this  plan,  it 
seems  to  me,  is  that  it  attracts  a  class  of  boys  to  a  trade  that  has  in  the 
past  two  decades  been  losing  attractiveness  to  this  class. 

Another  employer  says :  — 

We  believe  there  is  need  for  part-time  schooling  for  working  children 
in  this  industry.  In  our  city,  so  far  as  we  know,  there  are  no  means  to 
furnish  vocation  training  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  seventeen 
except  where  the  party  works  continuously  in  shops,  and  may,  if  he 
chooses,  attend  evening  school.  We  believe  there  is  need  for  an  appren- 
ticeship system,  and  in  this  line  of  business  should  consider  that  a  limited 
number  of  apprentices  could  be  served  in  a  way  that  would  be  practicable 
and  advantageous  to  employer  and  employee.  If  the  public  schools  or 
independent  school  could  furnish  the  part-time  schooling  we  believe  voca- 
tional and  industrial  work  could  be  carried  on  jointly  between  the  school 
and  factory.  Any  method  which  would  tend  to  guide  the  undeveloped 
talent  of  children  between  fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age  into  a 
vocation  that  would  be  desirable  is  to  be  heartily  recommended,  and  we 
believe  that  the  boys  and  girls  of  that  age  are  looking  for  just  such 
opportunities;  and,  again,  it  would  tend  to  make  good  citizens  of  them, 
because  their  lives  will  be  more  useful,  and  by  having  the  proper  training 
they  will  be  happy  in  a  congenial  work.  We  heartily  endorse  the  move- 
ment. 

Still  another  says :  — 

In  answer  to  the  question  whether  we  would  be  willing  to  give  our 
employees  under  seventeen  years  of  age  one  day  a  week  to  attend  a  part- 
time  school^  would  say  that  in  general  we  would  answer  this  question  in 
the  affirmative,  provided  the  conditions  under  which  they  would  be  in- 
structed are  satisfactory.  We  believe  that  to  make  a  part-time  school 
effective  there  should  be  a  special  supervisor  of  the  boys  in  a  part-time 
school  whose  duty  it  should  be  to  confer  with  the  employers,  and  keep  the 
boys  up  to  their  engagements  with  their  employers  and  with  the  school 
authorities. 


121 

An  employer  in  a  city  where  a  part-time  system  is  already  estab- 
lished wrote  the  following  letter  in  answer  to  an  inquiry  outside  the 
State,  and  sent  a  copy  to  take  the  place  of  a  direct  answer :  — 

We  have  18  of  •  these  boys  in  our  employ.  Have  graduated  6, 2  in 

1911  and  4  this  year.  We  have  them  in  our  machine  room,  learning  the 
sawsmith  trade,  in  our  drafting  room,  and  2  of  them  in  the  office.  All 
of  them  are  doing  nicely.  It  is  a  great  pleasure  for  us  to  say  a  word 
for  the  best  plan  of  education  that  has  ever  come  to  our  notice  for  a  boy 
of  limited  means,  whose  main  object  is  to  fit  himself  to  earn  a  living  at 
the  earliest  possible  date.  They  are  learning  a  trade  and  getting  an  educa- 
tion at  the  same  time.  Judging  from  their  efficiency  in  the  trade  we  feei 
they  have  learned  as  much  of  the  trade  by  alternating  in  the  shop  and  the 
school  as  the  old  plan  of  apprenticeship  did  by  being  all  of  the  time  in  the 
shop. 

It  seems  to  be  the  impression  in  the  high  school  that  on  the  subject 
they  have  studied  they  will  have  obtained  greater  proficiency  than  the 
boy  who  goes  to  school  all  of  his  time.  To  the  casual  observer  this  would 
seem  impossible,  but  educators  complain  that  the  average  scholar  going  to 
school  all  the  time  does  not  seem  to  take  more  interest  in  his- studies  than 
will  simply  allow  him  to  pass  his  examination.  They  frequently  hear, 
"What  is  the  use  of  this  study,  and  what's  the  use  of  that?"  Therein  lies 
the  secret.  The  boy  who  is  going  to  school  studying  mechanics  has  to  go 
to  the  shop  and  apply  this  knowledge  in  the  actual  work,  and  readily  sees 
what  the  study  is  for.  He  also  finds  that  unless  he  has  actually  mastered 
the  subject  he  cannot  use  it  in  his  work.  The  result  is  he  is  interested 
in  a  greater  degree  than  it  is  possible  for  him  to  be  by  going  to  school 
all  the  time,  and  not  knowing  the  practical  application  of  the  subject 
he  is  studying. 

We  find,  also,  that  the  average  apprentice  who  is  all  of  the  time  in  the 
shop  feels  if  he  stays  in  the  shop  three  years  without  any  particular 
effort  on  his  part  he  will  be  a  machinist.  The  boy  going  to  school  seems 
to  realize  it  is  up  to  him  whether  he  is  a  good  mechanic  or  simply  has 
served  his  time.  .  .  . 

In  this  way  (part-time)  you  will  see  they  are  studying  school  in  the 
shop,  and  shop  in  the  school,  and  there  is  no  break  in  their  education  at 
either  point.  The  more  a  man  knows  of  the  why  he  does  a  thing  the  more 
interested  he  becomes,  and  also  the  more  efficient. 

Some  of  the  educators  with  whom  we  have  talked  have  brought  up  the 
proposition  that  there  are  a  good  many  industries  for  which  there  is  no 
text-book.  That  is,  what  they  are  studying  in  school  does  not  fit  with  the 
degree  of  exactness.  That  is  the  case  with  machine  trade.  This  is  quite 
true  in  some  instances.  This  would,  however,  seem  to  be  an  opportunity 
for  the  educators,  or  those  who  have  this  matter  in  charge,  to  study  the 
subject,  and  supply  education  matter  for  the  public  schools  that  will  fit 
each  case. 

This  course  will  fit  agriculture,  and  there  is  no  reason  why  it  will  not 
fit  office  work.  The  merchants  on  the  street  would  have  better  clerks  if 
they  took  some  of  these  boys  and  allowed  them  to  get  an  education  at 
the  time  they  were  learning  the  business  of  selling  goods.  The  druggist 
wants  a  drug  clerk.  Seems  to  me  the  public  at  large  would  be  safer  in 


122 

the  hands  of  a  man  who  had  learned  the  business  under  the  co-operative 
course  than  the  man  who  had  to  dig  it  out  from  the  entirely  practical 
point  of  view. 

It  means  a  lot  of  hard  work  for  some  one  to  have  the  proper  studies 
in  school  to  fit  in  with  the  occupation  the  young  man  seeks  to  learn,  but 
it  seems  to  us  worthy  of  the  struggle,  to  the  end  that  the  taxpayers  of  this 
country  and  the  boys  who  are  going  to  school  shall  have  something  that 
they  can  use  in  their  business  of  making  a  living,  and  use  it  immediately 
upon  leaving  school,  without  the  necessity  of  spending  another  two  or 
three  years  to  learn  the  practical  side. 

The  boys  whom  we  have  in  the  shop  will  have  an  education  at  the  end 
of  four  years,  and  have  a  trade,  and  be  earning  as  much  as  they  would  if 
they  had  served  their  three  years  shop  work  only.  They  will  have  a 
foundation  on  which  to  go  farther  than  it  would  be  possible  for  the  boy 
who  had  to  start  in  with  common  school  education  and  sometimes  less. 

There  are  a  great  many  schemes  of  industrial  education;  all  of  them 
are  good;  they  all  help;  but  as  stated  earlier  in  this  letter  we  believe  this 
is  the  best  of  them  all.  The  boy  gets  the  benefit  of  actual  contact  with 
the  students  and  faculty  of  our  public  school  system,  which  to  our  mind 
is  a  decided  advantage  over  a  private  tutor.  He  learns  to  mingle  with 
his  fellows,  and  sees  life  as  it  is  in  the  school,  when  he  goes  to  work  in  a 
commercial  establishment  where  the  actual  activities  of  life  are  being 
performed  in  a  truly  commercial  way.  The  tools  must  be  kept  up-to-date. 
The  foreman  must  give  the  boy  enough  individual  attention  to  see  that  he 
knows  what  he  is  going  to  build,  and  to  see  that  he  does  it  in  a  most 
efficient  manner.  It  is  the  same  thing  with  him  as  any  other  boy  or  man 
that  is  hired  in  a  commercial  establishment.  He  must  earn  his  way,  as  it 
is  evident  the  business  could  not  be  founded  on  philanthropy.  He,  too, 
is  surrounded  by  men  who  are  masters  of  the  art,  and  learns  from  them 
by  observation  and  personal  contact. 

In  both  instances  he  is  up  against  the  real  thing.  When  he  finishes 
school  he  knows  what  he  is  going  to  do,  and  knows  what  he  can  do.  When 
the  average  boy  who  goes  to  the  high  school  finishes  his  course  and  applies 
for  a  position  he  is  asked  what  he  can  do,  and  his  reply  will  probably 
be,  "  I  don't  know ;  "  which  you  will  find  a  fairly  truthful  one. 

This,  course  gives  the  manufacturers  a  thinking  mechanic.  It  gives  the 
laboring  men's  boys  a  chance  to  become  a  thinking  mechanic;  gives  them 
a  chance  with  the  education  they  obtain  to  become  manufacturers,  if  they 
have  the  energy  and  determination  to  carry  them  so  far.  It  gives  a  man 
the  education  that  allows  him  to  think  clearly  for  himself,  and  he  does 
not  have  as  many  troubles  that  he  cannot  overcome  without  assistance,  as 
if  the  reverse  were  the  case.  Places  him  in  a  position  to  compete  with 
any  one. 

Manufacturers  will  tell  you  that  they  are  constantly  looking  for  men 
who  are  capable  of  taking  thinking  parts  in  the  overseeing  and  manage- 
ment of  their  business,  without  always  finding  what  they  are  looking  for. 
A  system  of  education  such  as  this  cannot  help  but  relieve  this  situation. 

In  conversation  with  men  who  have  been  to  an  institute  of  technology, 
they  have  said,  "Wish  I  had  had  this  course,  and  I  would  have  gotten  more 
out  of  my  Tech." 


123 

We  feel  very  certain  that  the  very  great  majority  of  taxpayers  will  get 
more  for  their  money  in  this  way  than  has  been  the  case  under  the  purely 
academic  condition  that  has  prevailed. 

In  conversation  with  our  superintendent  of  schools  he  tells  us  that 
while  he  does  not  know  positively,  he  feels  very  certain  that  100  of  the  800 
odd  pupils  which  will  start  in  our  high  school  next  year  never  would  have 
gone  farther  than  the  ninth  grade,  or  first  year  in  high  school,  had  it  not 
been  for  this  course. 

The  fact  that  the  boy  is  able  to  earn  a  certain  amount  of  money,  which 
helps  his  parents  (and  very  often  they  need  this  help  as  soon  as  he  has 
an  earning  capacity),  makes  it  possible  for  them  to  allow  him  to  spend 
the  extra  three  or  four  years  necessary  to  graduate,  having  in  mind  when 
he  graduates  that  he  will  be  as  well  equipped  for  life  as  if  he  had 
stopped  going  to  school  and  spent  his  whole  time  learning  the  trade. 

The  thing  necessary  to  our  mind  to  successfully  start  a  course  in  con- 
nection with  the  public  schools  is  to  get  the  school  board  and  faculty 
working  with  you.  Assure  yourself  of  the  hearty  co-operation  of  the 
manufacturers.  Have  them  understand  that  they  cannot  exploit  the  boy; 
they  must  agree  to  teach  him  a  definite  something,  and  then  push  him 
forward  as  rapidly  as  his  capacity  for  the  work  will  admit.. 

Last,  and  of  just  as  much  importance,  it  is  necessary  to  get  a  practical 
man  as  instructor  of  the  course.  Mr.  Hunter,  whom  we  have  here,  learned 
the  machinist  trade,  graduated  from  school  of  technology,  worked  in  draft- 
ing room  for  three  or  four  years,  and  keeps  in  touch  with  all  new  ideas 
in  the  mechanical  world,  visits  the  shops  and  keeps  himself  right  up  to 
the  minute.  This  enables  him  to  answer  any  questions  the  boys  ask  him 
about  their  work  or  their  studies  as  readily,  and  with  as  much  intelligence, 
as  would  a  proficient  Latin  teacher  with  question  asked  about  that  sub- 
ject. 

Finally  we  think  it  the  best   thing  that  ever  happened. 


124 


APPENDIX  F. 


SUGGESTED  PROGRAMS  FOR  PART-TIME   EDUCATION. 

In  making  recommendations  for  programs  of  vocational  training 
towards  different  industries,  the  present  industrial  situation  as  regards 
specialization  of  labor  is  accepted  as  one  which  is  inevitable,  and  as 
making  for  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number.  The  possibility 
of  offering  training  in  schools  so  extended  as  to  make  it  possible  for 
one  worker  to  learn  all  the  operations  of  an  industry  has  not  been 
considered  practicable  nor  desirable.  The  programs  offered  aim  to 
establish  a  substitute  for  the  old  apprenticeship  system  in  the  form  of 
a  training  which  will  enable  the  worker  not  only  to  learn  the  work  so 
that  he  may  earn  a  living,  but  also  to  make  him  a  more  intelligent 
worker  because  of  his  knowledge  of  the  industry  as  a  whole.  These 
programs,  therefore,  do  not  presuppose  changes  in  the  prevailing  sys- 
tem of  manufacturing,  but  aim  to  introduce  a  plan  of  co-operation 
between  shop  and  school  which  will  result  in  an  adequate  system  of 
training  for  young  workers.  Such  a  plan  should  insure  to  the  human 
element  in  manufacturing  as  much  consideration  and  thought  as  are 
devoted  to  methods  of  producing  goods  in  the  best  factories  and  shops.1 

Part-time  courses  should  provide  employed  young  people  between 
fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age  with  a  training  which  is  twofold 
in  its  purpose :  — 

(a)  It  should  increase  their  general  intelligence  and  lead  them  to 
understand  better  their  social  and  civic  duties.  This  is  here  designated 
as  training  for  citizenship,  or  liberal  education. 

(&)  It  should  increase  their  industrial  intelligence2  and  skill  so  that 
they  will  be  able  to  do  their  work  more  intelligently  and  skillfully, 
understand  its  relation  to  that  of  other  tasks  and  to  the  business  as  a 
whole,  and  acquire  such  an  understanding  of  the  organization  of  in- 
dustry and  such  an  adaptability  in  the  industry  that  promotion  to  the 
best  positions  which  they  are  capable  of  filling  will  be  possible.  Such 
training  is  called  here  industrial  or  vocational  education. 

1  For  a  discussion  of  the  practicability  of  these  programs,  see  Appendix  E,  pp.  99-123. 

1  Report  of  the  Commission  on  Industrial  and  Technical  Education,  1906:  "This  lack  is  not 
chiefly  a  want  of  manual  dexterity,  though  such  a  want  is  common,  but  a  want  of  what  may  be 
called  industrial  intelligence.  By  this  is  meant  mental  power  to  see  beyond  the  task  which  occupies 
the  hands  for  the  moment  to  the  operations  which  have  preceded  and  to  those  which  will  follow 
it,  —  power  to  take  in  the  whole  process,  knowledge  of  materials,  ideas  of  cost,  ideas  of  organiza- 
tion, business  sense,  and  a  conscience  which  recognizes  obligations." 


125 

Such  a  liberal  and  vocational  education,  when  measured  in  terms  of 
power,  that  is,  ability  to  understand  and  apply  what  has  been  taught, 
will  be  for  many  more  than  the  equivalent  of  what  these  young  people 
would  receive  were  they  to  finish  the  regular  grammar  school  course. 

Programs  and  courses  of  study  to  furnish  such  an  education  as  this, 
and  to  meet  the  needs  of  individuals  working  under  different  conditions 
in  various  occupations,  must  provide  the  following :  — 

(1)  Training  for  a  better  understanding  of  specialized  machines  and 
for  the  development  of  manipulative  skill  as  supplemental  to  the  work 
of  the  factory,  such  training  to  furnish  a  basis  for  the  beginning  of 
a  broader  training  on  other  machines  and  the  development  of  a  wider 
industrial  experience  and  intelligence. 

(2)  Training  in  the  commercial,  office  and  selling  side  of  the  business 
for  those  in  the  manufacturing  departments  who  show  ability  along 
such  lines. 

(3)  Training  for  workers  in  the  so-called  unskilled  industries,  to 
increase  their  interest  and  industrial  intelligence,  and  to  develop  capac- 
ity  for   advancement   where   opportunity   for   promotion   exists,   and, 
where  it  does  not,  to  fit  for  more  skilled  and  remunerative  employment 
in  other  industries. 

(4)  Training  for  workers  in  juvenile  occupations  which  will  enable 
them  to  gain  favorable  entrance  to  occupations  suitable  to  adults. 

(5)  Training  for  those  who  are  not  naturally  capable,  bright  and 
ambitious,  to  reduce,  so  far  as  possible,  the  number  of  unskilled,  and 
to  make  those  who  must  probably  always  be  specialized  operatives  the 
best  specialists  possible  and  the  best  citizens. 

(6)  Training  for  both  boys  and  girls  who  have  completed  the  gram- 
mar school,  as  well  as  for  those  who  leave  the  lower  grades  at  fourteen, 
to  give  a  knowledge  of  the  industry,  and  to  show  the  application  of 
what  they  have  been  taught  in  the  elementary  schools. 

(7)  Training  in  citizenship  for  all;  and  in  the  household  arts  for 
all  girls,  especially  for  those  who  are  temporarily  employed  at  a  low 
wage  in  unskilled  occupations. 

(8)  Instruction   of  the  type  offered  in  the  regular  academic  high 
school  for  those  who  may  wish  to  go  to  college. 

(9)  Training  which  will  make  the  pupil  wish  to  continue  in  night 
courses  after  the  age  of  seventeen,  so  that  the  influence  of  the  school 
may  be  exerted  for  a  longer  period  than  at  present. 

(10)  Training  which  will  conserve  the  strength  of  the  young  worker 
and  relieve  monotonous  employment  by  games,  gymnastics,  baths,  en- 
tertainment, recreation  and  instruction  in  the  proper  care  of  the  body. 

Schools  with  courses  providing  for  the  above  would  meet  the  dif- 
ferent existing  conditions  and  needs  in  all  of  the  industries  studied. 
These  industries  and  occupations  are  believed  to  be  fairly  typical,  and, 
in  a  broad  way,  the  same  principles  would  probably  be  found  appli- 
cable to  the  other  industries  not  treated  in  this  report.  It  is  apparent 


126 

that  no  one  program  or  course  of  study  will  fit  all  conditions;  these 
must  be  varied  to  meet  the  needs  of  each  community.  Even  in  the 
same  city,  young  people  working  in  the  same  trade  will  get  very 
much  broader  training  and  find  larger  opportunities  in  some  shops 
than  they  will  in  others,  and  the  function  of  the  school  must  be  to 
equalize,  so  far  as  practicable,  such  opportunities  by  supplementing 
the  work  of  the  shop. 

Except  in  the  largest  cities,  one  institution  should  be  organized  in 
each  city  or  large  town  and  made  the  center  for  all  the  varying  re- 
quirements which  exist  in  the  community.  Such  an  institution  should 
have  all-day  courses  for  both  boys  and  girls  who  wish  to  continue  their 
education  beyond  the  compulsory  school  period.  These  courses  should 
be  so  organized  that  at  the  end  of  a  period  of  three  or  four  years 
pupils  can  enter  a  trade  with  advanced  standing  as  apprentices,  and 
at  any  time  during  such  a  period,  especially  at  the  end  of  any  one 
year,  the  school  should  be  prepared  to  place  them,  through  co-opera- 
tion with  employers,  in  the  positions  which  they  are  best  fitted  to  fill. 
After  they  have  secured  positions,  the  school  should  continue  its  hold 
upon  them  through  part-time  courses  until  they  are  at  least  seventeen 
years  of  age,  and,  from  this  time  on,  through  evening  school  instruc- 
tion. All  who  cannot  attend  a  full-time  day  course  should  receive 
their  school  instruction  on  a  part-time  basis,  pupils  attending  at  such 
times  and  in  such  numbers  as  will  be  satisfactory  to  the  school  authori- 
ties and  to  the  employer.  This  will  mean  that  the  institution  must  be 
operated  twelve  months  in  the  year,  six  days  in  the  week  and  eight 
hours  a  day,  with  evening  sessions  of  from  two  to  three  hours. 

This  institution  should  be  organized  with  all-day,  part-time  and 
evening  courses  in  as  many  different  departments  as  there  are  dis- 
tinctly different  trades  employing  enough  people  to  warrant  the  estab- 
lishment of  such  courses.  The  school  should  prepare  boys  and  girls 
in  all-day  courses  for  entrance  to  the  skilled  occupations;  through  part- 
time  courses,  it  should  prepare  those  in  the  comparatively  unskilled 
industries  in  which  there  is  little  future,  and  those  employed  in  juvenile 
occupations,  for  entrance  to  a  skilled  or  adult  employment. 

EFFICIENCY  OF  INSTRUCTION. 

Teachers  should  not  be  allowed  to  teach  such  an  amount  of  time  in 
both  day  and  evening  schools  as  to  impair  the  efficiency  of  their  teach- 
ing. While  they  should  be  in  the  service  of  the  school  for  the  full 
period  of  twelve  months,  they  should  be  allowed  sufficient  time  and 
opportunity  to  keep  in  touch  with  industrial  needs  and  conditions. 
This  should  be  considered  as  important  a  part  of  the  work  as  the 
class-room  instruction,  and  no  teacher  should  be  employed  or  con- 
tinued in  employment  who  does  not  conform  to  this  requirement.  The 
longer  the  teacher  remains  out  of  industry  as  a  workman,  the  more 
necessary  will  such  study  become.  Teachers  of  related  academic  sub- 


127 

jects  should  be  required  to  gain  a  working  knowledge  of  the  trade  or 
trades  from  which  their  students  come,  and  to  keep  abreast  of  the 
times,  as  in  the  case  of  shop  instructors.1 

CO-OPERATION  OF  EMPLOYERS. 

A  part-time  vocational  school  should  always  have  an  advisory  com- 
mittee composed  of  practical  men  and  women,  both  employers  and 
employees,  who  will  aid  by  advice  as  to  the  kind  of  instruction  needed, 
and  especially  in  securing  the  co-operation  of  the  industrial  and  busi- 
ness portion  of  the  community. 

Amount  of  time  given  to  school  attendance  should  be  not  less  than 
eight  hours  per  week.  Where  young  people  are  employed  in  the  most 
highly  skilled  industries,  at  least  the  equivalent  of  one  working  day 
should  be  taken  for  part-time  instruction  in  the  related  technical  and 
theoretical  subjects.  Where  not  more  than  this  amount  of  time  is 
taken,  little  besides  a  general  understanding  of  machines  which  they 
are  not  yet  operating  in  factory  or  shop  can  be  given,  and  when  it  is 
necessary  to  give  preparation  for  a  new  machine  in  the  school,  more 
time  will  be  required.  A  week  or  more  might  then  be  devoted  wholly 
to  the  school,  to  be  followed  by  a  similar  period  later.  If  half  time 
is  devoted  to  the  school,  a  sufficient  amount  of  practical  instruction 
can  be  given  to  make  for  a  thorough  understanding  of  the  trade. 
Where  young  people  are  engaged  in  juvenile  employments,  and  prep- 
aration for  another  occupation  is  to  be  given,  at  least  one  half  of  their 
time  could  profitably  be  devoted  to  school  instruction.  In  this  case  it 
might  be  considered  that  they  are  regularly  attending  school,  and 
working  to  earn  enough  money  to  enable  them  to  do  it,  with  the  idea 
that  the  dominant  interest  will  be  in  the  school. 

FLEXIBLE  PROGRAMS  TO  MEET  INDIVIDUAL  NEEDS. 
The  program  and  courses  of  study  in  such  a  school  cannot  be  made 
and  remain  fixed  indefinitely,  as  is  now  the  practice  in  most  educa- 
tional institutions.  Only  a  general  plan  of  what  is  to  be  accomplished 
can  be  made  for  the  year,  and  the  program  must  be  constantly  shifted 
to  meet  the  varying  requirements  from  week  to  week,  sometimes  even 
from  day  to  day.  In  other  words,  the  program  should  be  made  to  fit 
the  needs  of  the  students,  instead  of  the  students  being  made  to  con- 
form to  the  program  and  curriculum.  Some  one  in  the  school  must 
be  responsible  for  an  exact  knowledge  of  the  requirements  of  every 
student,  see  that  they  receive  just  the  instruction  which  is  needed, 
watch  their  progress  in  the  industry  and  see  if  they  are  profiting  by 
the  training  of  the  school.  This  will  be  one  of  the  most  important, 
in  fact,  an  indispensable  feature  of  the  school.  It  will  mean  a  con- 
stant "  measuring  up  "  of  the  efficiency  of  its  work. 

1  For  a  discussion  of  teachers,  see  p.  129. 


128 


CLASSES  OP  THOSE  WITH  SIMILAR  NEEDS  AND  EXPERIENCE. 
Except  in  the  case  of  instruction  in  such  general  subjects  as  civics, 
household  arts,  hygiene  and  gymnastics,  those  who  come  from  different 
industries  cannot  be  grouped  together  in  the  school.  It  will  be  neces- 
sary to  organize  a  class  of  those  employed  in  the  same  industry  suffi- 
ciently small  so  that  the  teaching  can  be  practically  individual,  using 
the  every-day  industrial  experience  as  the  basis  of  instruction.  To  do 
this,  a  class  unit  of  fifteen  is  recommended,  and  the  number  must  not 
exceed  twenty.  The  workers  who  desire  general  academic  training 
would  make  so  small  a  group  as  to  be  almost  infinitesimal,  and  it  will 
be  quite  possible  to  deal  with  these  exceptional  cases  in  an  institution 
such  as  is  suggested  above,  or  arrangements  could  be  made  whereby 
this  work  might  be  done  by  the  regular  elementary  or  high  schools. 

EQUIPMENT. 

For  classes  of  young  people  employed  in  most  mechanical  industries, 
considerable  machine  equipment  will  be  an  absolute  necessity.  In  some 
cases  the  machines  and  industrial  plant  of  the  factory  can  be  utilized 
for  purposes  of  instruction  during  dull  seasons,  and  at  other  times, 
by  a  co-operative  arrangement  between  the  factory  and  the  school 
which  will  allow  the  worker  to  be  shifted  from  one  department  to 
another.  It  will  probably  be  found  that  few  if  any  classes  can  be 
organized  without  some  mechanical  equipment  in  the  school  to  be  used 
for  purposes  of  demonstration.  Only  in  dull  seasons  will  the  young 
people  be  able  to  get  any  very  great  variety  of  instruction  on  machines 
in  manufacturing  plants,  so  that  the  school  must  be  equipped  with  the 
fundamental  machines  of  the  different  industries.  While  the  school 
should  be  equipped  with  up-to-date  machinery,  the  problem  of  keeping 
it  up-to-date  is  not  at  all  analogous  to  that  of  keeping  up  the  equip- 
ment in  a  manufacturing  plant.  The  object  of  the. school  equipment 
is  instruction,  not  speed  and  production,  and  the  machines  will  not 
be  subjected  to  the  strain  and  wear  of  the  commercial  shop.  While 
many  special  machines  have  been  developed,  the  fundamental  principles 
of  the  most  expensive  equipments  have  changed  little,  if  any,  in  the 
last  thirty  years. 

PROBABLE  COST. 

An  institution  which  would  deal  effectively  with  this  problem  could 
not  be  conducted  at  a  per  capita  cost  of  less  than  $100  to  $150  for 
students  who  take  the  full  course  every  day;  for  half-time  instruction, 
the  per  capita  cost  would  be  from  $50  to  $75;  on  the  basis  of  one  day 
per  week,  the  per  capita  cost  would  be  $20  to  $30  per  year,  or,  fig- 
uring on  the  latter  basis,  it  would  cost  the  State  and  the  local  authori- 
ties not  less  than  $800,000  per  year  for  instruction.  If  this  work 
should  be  conducted  under  chapter  471,  Acts  of  1911,  the  State's  share 


129 

of  the  expense  would  be  not  less  than  $400.000  for  the  education  of 
40,000  children.  To  this  should  be  added  from  $35.000  to  $50,000 
more  for  supervision,  administration,  further  study  and  the  training 
of  teachers,  thus  placing  upon  the  State  a  financial  burden  of  at  least 
$450,000  per  year. 

TEACHERS. 

The  most  difficult,  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  important,  problem 
that  any  comprehensive  and  practical  plan  of  part-time  schooling  has 
to  solve  is  that  of  an  adequate  supply  of  competent  teachers.  Always 
and  everywhere  the  chief  factor  in  education  in  this  new,  uncharted 
field,  the  teacher  must  play  a  role  of  quite  unusual  importance.  In- 
deed, the  character  and  success  of  the  part-time  school  will  depend 
almost  wholly  upon  the  teachers  who  can  be  secured  to  inaugurate  it 
and  to  carry  it  on.  No  one  to-day  is  competent  to  present  even 
programs  of  part-time  school  work  that  are  more  than  general,  sug- 
gestive and  tentative;  to  an  unusual  extent  the  teacher  must  be  capable 
of  working  out  his  own  programs. 

The  qualifications  of  teachers  competent  to  undertake  this  work  are 
as  unusual  as  the  work  is  novel  and  difficult.  In  addition  to  native 
intelligence,  cultivated  by  a  good  general  academic  education,  and  a 
strong  and  pleasing  personality,  —  qualifications  demanded  of  all 
teachers,  —  part-time  school  teachers  must  be  trained  and  experienced 
in  the  arts,  the  trades  and  occupations,  in  which  they  are  to  help  their 
pupils  to  become  more  efficient.  Those  who  are  to  give  mainly  tech- 
nical instruction,  as  distinguished  from  correlative  and  practical 
academic  instruction,  must  have  a  broad  knowledge  of  the  art  or  trade 
in  which  they  give  instruction,  must  be  always  familiar  with  the  latest 
and  best  processes  and  practices  of  that  art  or  trade,  and  must  them- 
selves be  skilled  workmen;  in  short,  they  must  be  capable  of  command- 
ing the  industrial  respect  of  the  best  regular  workmen,  of  foremen  and 
superintendents.  It  is  especially  important  that  these  teachers  com- 
mand the  industrial  respect  of  foremen  and  superintendents;  for  the 
success  of  the  part-time  school  will  depend  upon  the  intelligent  and 
intimate  co-operation  of  instructors  and  employers.  And  finally,  all 
instructors  in  part-time  schools  must  be  superior  as  teachers,  —  for 
they  have  to  deal  largely  with  boys  and  girls  whom  their  regular 
teachers,  —  even  the  best  of  them,  —  have  failed  fully  to  reach.  A 
change  from  the  academic  matter  and  method  of  the  regular  school 
to  a  more  concrete  and  practical  matter  and  method,  better  adapted 
to  the  type  of  pupil  in  question,  will  help  the  part-time  school  teacher; 
but  his  complete  success  will  depend  upon  teaching  skill  and  insight 
of  a  high  order. 

Where  and  how  can  an  adequate  supply  of  competent  teachers  be 
secured  ?  Few  can  be  found  at  the  present  time,  —  all  too  few  to  meet 
the  demand;  and  to  meet  the  enormously  increased  demand  that  any 


130 

general  plan  of  part-time  schooling  would  create  there  is  at  present 
no  source  of  adequate  supply.  But  the  outlook  is  by  no  means  hope- 
less; the  State  must  undertake  the  training  of  such  teachers  just  as 
the  State  has  for  years  trained  teachers  for  the  regular  schools.  If 
the  State  is  to  require  part-time  schools,  the  State  must  make  it  possi- 
ble for  the  community  to  meet  that  requirement;  if  the  State  is  merely 
to  encourage  the  establishment  of  such  schools,  the  State  can  do  this 
in  no  way  more  effectively  than  through  a  supply  of  well-trained 
teachers  who  can  demonstrate  the  practicability  and  efficiency  of  part- 
time  schooling. 

How  and  where  shall  teachers  for  part-time  schools  be  trained? 
Where  shall  candidates  for  training  be  found  who  possess  the  necessary 
preliminary  qualifications?  To  secure  and  train  teachers  competent 
to  handle  the  practical  academic  work  of  part-time  schools  need  not 
be  a  difficult  matter.  Teachers  of  successful  experience,  either  in  gram- 
mar or  high  schools,  who  have  the  right  point  of  view,  who  are  adapt- 
able, who  can  appreciate  and  meet  conditions  as  they  are,  need  only 
to  acquire  sufficient  insight  into  the  processes,  the  purposes  and  the 
point  of  view  of  trade  and  industry  to  enable  them  to  make  their 
instruction  in  academic  subjects  practical  and  effective.  Such  insight 
they  might  get  through  brief  periods  of  service  in  the  trades  and  in- 
dustries,—  summer  vacations  spent  in  this  way  would  suffice,  —  and 
through  constant  association  and  exchange  of  ideas  with  their  col- 
leagues, the  teachers  of  technical  subjects.  Work  together  in  the  school 
shops  would  be  of  mutual  advantage  to  the  academic  and  the  technical 
teachers. 

The  problem  of  securing  suitable  candidates  and  training  them  suc- 
cessfully to  be  teachers  of  technical  subjects  is  a  much  more  difficult 
one.  The  indispensable  qualification  that  these  teachers  be  workmen 
of  such  general  intelligence  and  skill  that  they  will  command  the  re- 
spect of  foremen  and  superintendents  in  the  industries,  at  once  limits 
the  list  of  possible  eligibles  to  workmen  of  several  years'  experience, 
—  not  less  than  five,  probably  eight  or  ten  as  a  rule,  —  who  are  com- 
manding good  wages,  $1,000  or  more  per  year.  In  most  cases  such 
workmen  will  have  family  obligations  which  will  make  it  quite  impossi- 
ble, were  they  so  disposed,  to  sacrifice  their  present  earnings  for  a 
single  year  even,  with  the  hope  of  fitting  themselves  for  somewhat 
better  paid  service  thereafter. 

The  problem  of  training  such  candidates  in  the  art  of  teaching  when 
they  are  secured  is  a  new  and  obviously  not  an  easy  one.  The  char- 
acter of  the  candidates  themselves,  the  character  of  the  type  of  pupils 
whom  they  are  to  learn  to  instruct,  the  subject-matter,  the  materials 
and  processes  which  must  be  used  in  part-time  technical  instruction, 
and  the  whole  purpose  and  methods  of  this  instruction  are  so  radically 
different  from  those  that  obtain  in  the  normal  schools,  in  which  the 
State  prepares  teachers  for  the  regular  schools,  that  it  is  at  once 


131 

apparent  that  here  is  a  problem  quite  outside  the  field  of  any  existent 
normal  school.  A  special  normal  school  might  be  established  for  this 
purpose,  but  its  immediate  feasibility  is  open  to  question.  In  the  first 
place,  not  enough  is  known  at  the  present  time  about  the  details  of  train- 
ing that  will  prove  most  efficient  to  enable  any  one  wisely  to  design  a 
normal  school  plant  of  this  type;  hence,  experimentation  would  un- 
doubtedly prove  very  expensive.  Moreover,  whatever  plant  might  be 
found  eventually  adequate,  it  is  reasonably  sure  that  both  the  first  cost 
of  such  a  plant  and  the  expense  of  operating  it  would  be  very  large, 
much  larger  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  teachers  trained  than  that 
of  any  of  the  existent  normal  schools.  Finally,  it  is  extremely  doubtful 
whether  the  type  of  training  probably  necessary  can  be  effectively  given 
in  any  institution  that  would  resemble  a  normal  school. 

A  quite  different  plan  of  training  teachers  of  technical  subjects  com- 
mends itself  in  many  ways.  It  is  this.  Let  the  State  enter  into 
arrangements  with  selected  existing  vocational  schools,  —  full-time  day 
schools,  —  and  with  others  that  may  be  established,  to  take  in  training 
suitable  candidates  for  technical  teachers.  The  number  that  any  one 
school  could  take  would  necessarily  be  quite  limited;  each  selected 
school  should  specialize  in  the  training  of  teachers  for  certain  types 
of  work,  as  printing,  pattern  making,  electrical  work,  machine-tool 
work,  —  those  types  in  which  the  particular  school,  through  its  in- 
structors and  equipment,  was  best  qualified  to  give  instruction  to 
would-be  teachers.  The  entire  arrangement,  all  the  essential  condi- 
tions- of  training,  must,  of  course,  be  subject  to  the  control  and  super- 
vision of  the  State  through  the  executive  officers  of  the  State  Board 
of  Education.  As  compensation  for  the  service  rendered,  the  State 
should  pay  to  the  school  training  these  teachers  a  fixed  amount  for 
every  unit  of  service,  that  is,  for  every  prospective  teacher  in  training 
for  one  year. 

One  of  the  important  conditions  of  the  training  proposed  should  be 
that  the  school  carrying  on  this  training  pay  its  apprentice  teachers 
for  their  service  as  assistants  while  in  training  a  salary  approximately 
equal  to  the  amount  received  from  the  State.  This  the  school  can  well 
afford  to  do,  provided,  of  course,  that  its  work  be  properly  organized. 
The  prospective  teachers  of  technical  work  must  have,  as  an  indis- 
pensable part  of  any  course  of  training  that  is  to  prove  effective,  a 
large  amount  of  practice  teaching  under  the  intimate  guidance  and 
supervision  of  skilled  teachers.  With  a  suitable  organization,  the 
service  that  a  very  limited  number  of  practice  teachers  could  render 
—  and  no  school  should  undertake  to  train  more  than  two  or  three  in 
any  one  department  —  would  be  sufficient  to  enable  the  school  to  dis- 
pense with  assistants  that  it  would  otherwise  be  compelled  to  employ. 
The  saving  effected  in  this  way  should  be  applied  to  the  salaries  of 
head  teachers  to  enable  the  school  to  secure  and  to  retain  the  services 
of  the  very  best,  —  those  competent  not  only  to  teach  but  to  train 


132 

others  to  teach.  Thus,  while  this  plan  would  hold  out  to  the  school 
selected  for  training  teachers  little  or  no  hope  of  a  net  reduction  in 
operating  expense,  it  would  promise  for  the  school  superior  teachers 
and  a  fully  adequate  number  of  assistants  at  least  as  competent  as 
such  schools  are  now  able  to  obtain.  The  resultant  improvement  in 
the  service  that  the  school  could  render  its  pupils  would  undoubtedly 
be  inducement  sufficient  to  enable  the  State  to  make  the  arrangements 
proposed  with  any  schools  that  might  be  selected  to  render  this  service. 

In  addition  to  furnishing  the  best  training  that  can  at  present  be 
devised,  this  plan  will  go  far  to  make  it  possible  to  secure  for  training 
the  type  of  experienced  workmen  required.  The  pay  that  is  proposed 
for  teachers  in  training  and  rendering  the  service  of  assistants,  to- 
gether with  some  additional  compensation  that  such  training  teachers 
might  well  earn  for  service  in  evening  vocational  schools,  would  ap- 
proximately make  good  the  sacrifice  of  wages. 

By  this  plan  the  best  candidates  should  be  trained  in  one  year  to 
begin  service  as  teachers;  less  promising  candidates  might  require  as 
much  as  two  years  of  training.  It  would  not  be  desirable  and  probably 
not  necessary  to  undertake  the  training  of  -candidates  who  could  not 
become  fairly  competent  teachers  within  two  years. 

Finally,  a  very  important  advantage  of  the  plan  proposed  —  which, 
as  every  plan  must  be,  is  confessedly  experimental  —  is  its  inexpen- 
siveness  and  its  susceptibility  to  adaptation  to  the  growing  and  fluc- 
tuating demand  for  teachers  of  the  type  under  discussion.  The  State 
is  called  upon  to  make  no  initial  investment  in  plant  or  organization; 
so  there  can  be  absolutely  no  financial  loss  should  the  plan  for  any 
reason  be  abandoned.  At  all  times  the  State  would  pay  only  for 
service  rendered,  and  that  at  a  much  lower  rate  than  such  service  could 
be  secured  —  were  this  plan  feasible  —  in  an  independent  institution 
that  the  State  might  establish  for  this  purpose. 

TRAINING  AWAY  PROM  ONE  OCCUPATION  INTO  ANOTHER. 
Schools  must  face  the  fact  that  young  people,  because  they  can  be 
hired  at  low  wages,  will  be  employed  in  large  numbers  to  do  what  is 
termed  boys'  and  girls'  work.  After  the  period  of  this  juvenile  em- 
ployment has  passed,  they  reach  the  age  of  seventeen  or  eighteen  and 
find  that  they  are  not  able  to  earn  much,  if  any,  more  than  when  they 
started  their  industrial  career.  Most  of  them  have  made  little  or  no 
progress  in  fitting  themselves  for  an  adult's  work.  Where  this  juvenile 
employment  is  in  a  city  of  varied  industrial  opportunities  the  problem 
is  comparatively  simple,  because  the  young  person,  while  attending  a 
part-time  school,  can  be  fitted  to  enter  an  occupation  which  employs, 
in  the  main,  adults.  Such  work  should  be  conducted  on  a  half-time 
basis,  preferably  in  an  alternating  weekly  plan.  In  this  case  the 
juvenile  employment  should  be  made  to  serve  as  a  means  of  furnish- 
ing the  necessary  money  to  allow  them  to  continue  their  education,  and 


133 

to  furnish  an  incidental  experience  in  responsibility  with  practical 
affairs  while  they  are  being  fitted  for  favorable  entrance  to  a  trade 
or  occupation  at  seventeen  or  eighteen  years  of  age  or  older. 

The  experience  gained  by  those  employed  in  the  messenger  service 
and  similar  occupations. can  be  used  as  a  basis  for  training  which  will 
lead  to  a  career  on  the  shipping  and  transportation  side  of  business. 
Those  who  are  to  be  fitted  for  entrance  to  mechanical  occupations,  such 
as  printing,  machine  work,  boot  and  shoe  manufacturing,  carpentry, 
cabinet  making,  brick  laying,  steam  fitting,  etc.,  would  need  more  than 
theoretical  instruction;  an  elementary  experience  at  least  ought  to  be 
given  on  the  practical  side  of  the  work  which  they  plan  to  enter.  This 
will  necessitate  a  certain  amount  of  mechanical  equipment  in  the  school. 
The  schools  should  discover  the  fitness  of  the  different  pupils  for  the 
various  occupations,  and  determine  what  lines  of  work  are  the  least 
overcrowded  and  offer  the  greatest  opportunities. 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  A  CITY  OF  ONLY  ONE  INDUSTRY.  —  PROGRAM  FOR  THE 

TEXTILE  BUSINESS. 

The  most  difficult  problem  is  found  in  connection  with  the  juvenile 
work  in  the  textile  business.  The  difficulty  in  dealing  with  it  is  two- 
fold, (a)  As  it  is  at  present  organized,  a  small  number  of  men  and 
no  women  are  required  for  the  positions  which  correspond  with  those 
of  the  superintendent,  foremen  and  their  assistants  in  other  industries, 
thus  reducing  the  opportunities  for  promotion  to  positions  of  leader- 
ship. (6)  As  these  positions  are  usually  the  only  ones  requiring  any 
great  amount  of  training  or  skill  in  the  community,  and  because  the 
textile  business  is  usually  the  dominant  one,  there  are  only  a  few  oppor- 
tunities for  skilled  work  in  other  employments.  Such  a  problem  is 
presented  in  a  city  like  Fall  River,  where  the  textile  business  is  the 
only  large  industry  in  the  city  and  requires  only  a  small  amount  of  skill 
on  the  part  of  the  majority  of  the  individual  operatives. 

Organization  and  Amount  of  Time. 

For  this  industry  two  kinds  of  part-time  classes  might  be  organized: 
(a)  classes  made  up  of  those  who  can  devote  not  more  than  five  to 
eight  hours  a  week  to  the  school,  such  classes  to  deal  with  the  ma- 
jority of  young  workers  found  in  the  business;  (fe)  classes  made  up 
of  those  who  show  special  ability,  and  who  can  give  more  time  to  a 
school  for  special  training,  such  pupils  to  devote  half  their  time  to 
school  and  the  other  half  to  work.  From  the  standpoint  of  the  school, 
it  would  make  little  difference  whether  these  classes  alternated  between 
the  factory  and  the  school  by  months,  by  weeks,  by  days  or  by  half 
days.  It  was  found  that  many  mills  had  "  overseers  "  or  foremen  who 
had  worked  under  the  English  half-time  plan.  These  men  were  in- 
clined to  favor  a  change  every  half  day  or  every  other  day,  as  is  the 


134 

case  in  England.  For  example,  if  they  changed  every  half  day  there 
would  be  two  sets  of  young  workers,  each  trained  to  do  the  same  work, 
one  group  working  in  the  morning  in  the  mill  and  attending  school  in 
the  afternoon,  while  the  other  group  would  have  been  in  school  in  the 
morning  and  would  go  to  the  mill  in  the  afternoon.  Those  men  who 
were  not  familiar  with  the  English  system,  when  the  different  plans 
were  explained  to  them  for  the  first  time,  were  inclined  to  favor  the 
alternating  weekly  plan.1  Such  an  arrangement  is  now  working  suc- 
cessfully in  one  mill  in  Fitchburg  with  a  selected  group  of  boys  who 
are  only  a  small  part  of  the  total  number  employed.  This  plan  is 
recommended  where  the  mill  management  does  not  show  a  preference. 
As  this  plan  requires  doubling  the  number  of  young  workers  to  keep 
up  production,  and  reducing  their  pay  by  approximately  one  half,  it 
is  felt  that  it  will  have  to  be  confined  to  comparatively  few  of  the  total 
number  employed.  The  mills  are  usually  so  anxious  to  get  young 
help  that  whenever  the  school  authorities  are  ready  to  go  to  them  and 
say,  "Here  are  30  boys  who  are  anxious  to  continue  their  education, 
but  they  cannot  give  more  than  half  their  time  to  schooling.  Will  you 
take  them  on  a  half-time  basis,  15  one  week  and  15  the  next,"  the 
management  will  be  willing  to  do  this,  as  it  will  increase  their  working 
force  by  15  and  will  tend  to  give  them  more  earnest,  purposeful  young 
people. 

For  the  great  mass  of  workers  in  the  textile  business,  half  their  time 
for  three  years  would  not  be  required  to  give  them  a  training  which 
would  enable  them  to  reach  their  greatest  skill  as  specialized  operatives, 
probably  five  to  eight  hours  per  week  would  be  sufficient.  Taking  this 
amount  of  time  from  the  factory  would  require  a  working  force  of 
about  one-sixth  more. 

Subject-matter. 

With  a  group  giving  one  half  of  their  working  time  to  school  train- 
ing, the  school  should  set  itself  the  task  of  preparing  boys  for  what 
might  be  termed  the  maintaining  occupations  in  that  industry.  Train- 
ing in  such  lines  as  carpentry,  machine  work,  mechanical  drawing, 
electricity  and  the  maintenance  of  power  service  cannot  be  given  in  any 
adequate  way  while  the  worker  is  employed  in  the  mill.  A  general 
understanding  of  the  textile  business  and  a  knowledge  of  what  the 
machines  are  expected  to  do  will  be  necessary  in  order  that  they  may 
be  able  to  erect  machines,  keep  them  in  repair,  line  up  shafting,  install 
motors,  run  wires,  conduits,  piping,  and  be  generally  adaptable  in 
plants  which  have  a  large  amount  of  steam  piping,  electrical  conduit, 
wiring,  shafting,  belting,  pulleys,  etc.  If  these  things  are  taught,  to- 

1  Very  few  of  these  men  favored  any  plan  which  would  increase  the  amount  of  work  which  they 
would  have  to  do  in  looking  after  their  help,  and  stated  that  these  things  could  be  done  provided 
(1)  that  the  law  required  it,  and  (2)  that  they  could  get  a  sufficient  amount  of  extra  help.  See 
discussion  of  amount  of  help  available  under  Appendix  E,  "Practicability,"  pp.  103-104,  110. 


135 

gether  with  English,  related  mathematics,  history,  civics,  etc.,  these 
boys,  even  though  they  are  in  the  textile  business  in  the  same  capacity 
as  those  who  have  had  no  such  training,  will  have  a  larger  opportunity, 
which  is  twofold.  First,  on  account  of  their  larger  training,  after 
successful  experience  in  the  business  as  operatives,  they  will  be  in  line 
for  promotion  as  second  hands,  overseers  and  possibly  superintendents, 
if  they  show  ability  for  such  positions;  second,  if  they  have  not  the 
personal  qualities  which  would  enable  them  to  fill  executive  positions 
and  control  others,  this  training  will  at  least  prepare  them  to  under- 
stand their  machines  better,  and  will  fit  them  for  such  positions  as  mill- 
wrights, repairing  machinists,  electricians  and  steam  fitters. 

For  those  who  cannot  devote  more  than  five  to  eight  hours  per  week 
to  a  part-time  school,  the  training  should  aim  to  fit  for  the  most  highly 
skilled  occupations  in  the  mill,  so  that  at  the  age  of  seventeen  or  eight- 
een, boys  will  have  had  training  and  experience  in  such  work  as  weav- 
ing, loom  fixing,  mule  spinning,  etc.  These  occupations  can  be  learned 
in  a  comparatively  short  time,  and  they  pay  a  wage  which  would  tend 
to  stop  a  great  deal  of  the  idleness  which  exists  at  the  present  time. 

Any  system  of  training  for  the  textile  industry  should  aim:  (a)  to 
establish  a  substitute  for  the  old  apprenticeship  system  in  the  mill; 
make  the  boys  feel  a  responsibility  to  their  employer,  and  make  the 
employer  feel  an  equal  responsibility  for  the  future  of  the  boys  after 
they  get  beyond  the  point  where  they  are  no  longer  contented  with 
a  boy's  work  and  pay,  such  as  that  of  bobbin  boys,  doffers,  etc.,  by 
training  them  for  a  department  which  employs  men  rather  than  to 
allow  them  to  become  disgusted  with  all  mill  work,  as  is  now  so  often 
the  case;  (6)  to  establish  through  the  school  an  agency  which  will  look 
after  the  interests  of  the  boys  and  girls  in  the  community  as  a  whole, 
know  where  they  are  at  work,  what  they  are  doing,  how  successful 
they  are,  and  what  their  future  in  the  business  might  be  with  the  right 
kind  of  effort  and  training.  The  school  should,  with  the  proper  co- 
operation with  industry,  do  much  to  stop  the  present  purposeless  shift- 
ing and  drifting,  and  make  young  people  see  that  their  future  lies  in 
work,  not  in  idleness. 

In  a  textile  center  the  industrial  conditions  are  such  that  it  is  pos- 
sible to  give  but  little  training  which  will  open  an  industrial  future 
for  girls  other  than  that  offered  by  the  mills.  A  part-time  school  might 
offer  some  instructions  to  make  for  a  general  understanding  of  the 
industry,  at  least  an  understanding  of  the  work  and  system  of  the 
department  in  which  they  are  employed,  together  with  the  keeping  of 
such  accounts  and  records  as  are  required  by  the  overseers  of  these 
different  departments.  Any  vocational  training  which  will  enable  them 
to  do  other  work  better  and  with  the  least  effort  should  be  offered. 

Where  girls  are  unsuited  to  the  kind  of  work  which  they  are  doing, 
or  when  the  task  becomes  physically  too  exacting,  the  school  should 
give  training  for  another  department  or  for  a  less  exacting  task. 


136 

A  large  part  of  the  time  of  the  girls  in  the  textile  industry  should 
be  devoted  to  the  household  arts,  dressmaking,  millinery,  personal  hy- 
giene and  simple  home  accounts. 

When  not  more  than  five  to  eight  hours  per  week  for  three  years 
can  be  devoted  to  the  school,  the  work  offered  should  be  along  these 
lines  rather  than  along  the  line  of  vocational  training  for  the  mill. 

The  largest  purpose  of  this  kind  of  instruction  for  girls  should  be 
to  relieve  the  monotony  of  their  employment,  and  give  a  training 
which  will  make  for  the  betterment  of  living  conditions  and  the  im- 
provement of  homes  of  the  second  and  third  generations  of  our  new 
Americans. 

Equipment  for  Textile  Part-time  Education. 

To  carry  out  a  program  such  as  is  outlined  above,  a  few  of  the  typi- 
cal machines  will  be  found  necessary.  In  the  cities  of  Fall  River  and 
New  Bedford,  the  equipments  of  the  present  State  textile  schools  are 
adequate,  and  should  be  made  available  for  this  purpose.  The  two 
other  large  textile  centers,  Lowell  and  Lawrence,  are  already  supplied 
with  equipment.  In  Lowell  there  is  ample  equipment  in  either  the 
State  textile  school  or  the  State-aided  vocational  school.  In  Lawrence 
there  is  quite  a  complete  equipment  in  the  State-aided  vocational  school. 
In  the  smaller  textile  centers  it  should  be  possible  to  have  one  or  two 
discarded  machines  in  the  school  for  the  purposes  of  studying  the 
mechanical  movement  and  adjustments,  and  making  drawings  of  the 
different  parts.  In  these  centers,  proper  co-operation  with  the  mill 
management  should  enable  the  instructor  to  take  groups  of  boys  to 
the  mill  for  the  study  of  machines  and  processes  with  which  they  are 
not  familiar.  The  school,  whether  in  the  large  or  small  center,  should 
give  the  theoretical  instruction,  illustrating  it  by  demonstration  with 
the  apparatus,  but  the  actual  experience  and  practice  should  be  given 
in  the  mill,  which  will  mean  the  closest  kind  of  co-operation. 

In  centers  like  Chicopee,  Holyoke,  Lowell  and  Fitchburg,  there  is 
considerable  opportunity  for  training  for  the  metal-working  industry, 
and  in  the  case  of  Lowell,  for  the  shoe  business.  In  these  and  similar 
cases  the  schools  should  have  equipment  upon  which  young  people  can 
get  some  elementary  practice  and  the  experience  which  will  enable 
them  to  gain  favorable  entrance  to  these  occupations.  In  all  cases 
they  should  have  some  machine,  carpentry  and  electrical  equipment, 
because  of  the  importance  of  instruction  along  these  lines  for  what 
has  been  termed  above  the  maintaining  occupations  of  the  textile 
business. 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  A  PROGRAM  OF  TRAINING  FOR  THE  BOOT  AND  SHOE 

BUSINESS. 

Under  the  present  system  of  manufacturing  shoes  there  are  about 
one  hundred  and  eighty  different  operations,  each  performed  by  a 
specialist.  This  industry  is  probably  more  minutely  subdivided  and 


137 

specialized  than  any  other  in  the  Commonwealth.  The  majority  of  the 
foremen  and  superintendents  in  the  business  learned  their  trade  either 
before  or  during  the  transition  period,  when  it  was  possible  to  learn 
the  whole  process  of  making  a  shoe.  There  appear  to  be  a  few  spe- 
cialized operatives  who  also  have  a  considerable  knowledge  of  shoe 
manufacturing.  These  are  among  the  most  highly  paid  and  most  in- 
telligent men  in  the  business. 

The  claim  is  made  by  manufacturers  that  the  foremen  and  superin- 
tendents trained  under  the  old  methods  are  fast  dropping  out,  and  the 
system  of  manufacturing  is  not  developing  men  to  take  their  places. 
They  claim  (a)  that  general  vocational  training  which  would  make  for 
an  understanding  of  the  different  machines  and  processes,  factory  or- 
ganization, costs  of  material  and  manufacturing  would  develop  a  kind 
of  intelligence  and  give  experience  which  would  enable  those  possessing 
the  personality  and  executive  ability  to  become  foremen,  superin- 
tendents and  salesmen  on  the  road;  (&)  that  all  young  people  who 
intend  to  ha,ve  a  future  in  the  business  should,  in  the  beginning  at 
least,  have  the  kind  of  training  mentioned  above  so  that  those  who  can- 
not fill  executive  positions  will  develop  into  the  kind  of  specialized 
operatives  so  much  needed,  those  who  know  why  they  do  things,  who 
understand  the  relation  of  their  own  operations  to  those  of  others,  who 
can  tell  when  a  thing  is  wrong,  why  it  is  wrong,  what  needs  to  be  done 
to  correct  it,  and  understand  that  if  it  is  done  wrong  it  is  likely  to 
spoil  work  or  cause  trouble  in  succeeding  operations. 

Organization  and  Amount  of  Time  for  the  School. 
Only  5.6  per  cent,  of  all  the  shoe  workers  in  the  State  are  estimated 
as  being  under  seventeen  years  of  age,  so  that  the  problem  of  getting 
enough  young  help  is  not  a  serious  one.  A  considerable  amount  of  time 
is  necessary  for  a  program  of  training  for  the  shoe  business.  From 
the  standpoint  of  vocational  education  the  alternating  weekly  plan  could 
be  operated  with  profit  to  the  pupil  for  a  period  of  at  least  three  years.1 
This  could  be  followed  by  instruction  for  five  to  eight  hours  per  week 
for  those  who  wish  further  vocational  training  for  any  special  line  or 
department,  such  as  special  phases  of  manufacturing,  purchasing 
and  selling.  Such  work  as  the  latter  should  be  done  with  selected 
groups  who  could  probably  be  spared  by  the  management  for  a  time 
each  week,  or,  if  not,  so  released  that  this  instruction  might  be  given 
during  the  dull  season.  Such  classes  should  be  open  to  all  over  seven- 
teen years  of  age  who  have  had  a  sufficient  training  in  the  shoe  business 
so  that  they  could  profit  by  the  work  offered.  The  half-time  plan 
should  be  so  modified  for  the  shoe  business  that  during  the  periods  of 
great  rush  all  the  time  could  be  devoted  to  the  factory  if  their  services 
were  required,  while  during  the  dull  periods,  or  when  the  factory  is 
practically  closed,  all  the  time  could  be  devoted  to  the  school. 

1  Alternating  plan  to  work  ag  described  on  p.  133,  "Textile  Program." 


138 


Programs  of  Training  for  the  Shoe  Business. 

A  program  of  training  for  the  shoe  business  should  be  both  liberal 
and  vocational.  About  two  thirds  of  the  time  given  to  the  school  might 
well  be  devoted  to  practical  shop  work,  with  such  related  technical  study 
as  drawing,  both  mechanical  and  pattern  drafting,  mathematics,  the 
study  of  factory  systems,  danger  points  in  the  operation  of  machines, 
methods  of  marketing  goods,  problems  of  labor,  labor  laws,  and  all 
questions  pertaining  to  the  relation  of  employer  and  employee  and  the 
reasonable  obligations  of  both.  The  remaining  time  could  be  devoted 
to  what  might  be  called  a  more  liberal  training,  to  include  the  related 
work  in  English,  history,  geography  and  civics,  —  all  to  be  taught  in 
such  a  practical  way  that  it  cannot  fail  to  interest  and  educate. 

The  practical  work  for  boys  should  include  elementary  experience 
in  all  of  the  operations  found  in  the  making  of  the  shoe,  to  be  followed 
by  specialization  on  three  or  four  different  machines  or  operations,  and 
a  pretty  thorough  knowledge  of  the  work  of  one  department.  Such 
instruction  and  practical  experience  for  three  or  four  years  should  give 
all  boys  entering  the  industry  an  equal  opportunity,  and  at  the  end 
of  this  time  those  possessing  special  ability  should  be  given  the  oppor- 
tunity for  further  training  of  a  more  highly  technical  nature.  A  school 
offering  such  courses  might  well  be  located  in  the  city  of  Boston  for 
the  benefit  of  the  shoe  industry  in  the  State  as  a  whole.  Such  a  tech- 
nical shoe  school  should  benefit  at  least  four  different  groups  of  people : 

(1)  young  people  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  seventeen  employed 
in  the  shoe  business  in  Boston  who  could  give  half  time  to  attendance; 

(2)  those  in  such  shoe  centers  as  Brockton,  Lynn,  Haverhill,  Marl- 
borough,  etc.,  who  have  attended  local  half-time  classes  for  three  or  four 
years,  who  have  shown  ability  and  wish  to  learn  about  the  manufactur- 
ing of  other  grades  of  shoes  made  in  different  parts  of  the  State,  and 
to  receive  the  higher  technical  instruction  in  shoemaking  as  a  whole; 

(3)  the  older  workers  employed  during  the  day  in  the  shoe  business 
of  Boston  and  vicinity  who  wish  to  attend  evening  classes;    (4)   the 
older  workers  employed  in  the  shoe  business  outside  of  the  metropoli- 
tan district  wishing  a  broader  training  who  could  attend  during  dull 
seasons. 

The  vocational  training  required  by  girls  need  not  be  as  broad  in  its 
scope  as  that  suggested  above.  The  girls  and  women  in  the  industry 
are,  on  the  whole,  employed  on  two  lines  of  work,  namely,  stitching 
and  packing.  They  learn  these  operations  in  about  six  weeks,  and 
beyond  giving  them  the  training  for  this  work  in  a  more  thorough  and 
systematic  way,  together  with  simple  instruction  in  department  account- 
ing, it  is  difficult  to  see  what  vocational  training  would  be  of  any 
practical  value.  The  girls  and  women  in  the  shoe  business  are  paid  a 
good  wage  as  compared  with  those  in  other  lines  of  work  requiring 
similar  ability,  so  from  the  economic  standpoint  there  would  be  nothing 


139 

gained  by  offering  training  for  another  occupation.  The  school  can, 
however,  give  these  girls  valuable  courses  in  the  science  and  art  of 
home  making,  dressmaking,  millinery  and  personal  hygiene. 

Programs  of  Training  for  the  Machine  Business. 

More  has  been  done  along  the  line  of  working  out  programs  for  the 
machine  industry  than  for  any  other.  From  these  experiments  we  have 
learned  that  this  industry,  which  is  much  more  complex  than  the  tex- 
tile business,  and  more  varied  as  to  product  and  methods  than  the  shoe 
business,  is  well  adapted  to  a  plan  of  training  which  allows  some 
groups  to  work  one  week  in  the  shop  and  the  next  week  in  the  school. 
In  some  machine  shops  the  plan  of  devoting  an  hour  or  so  each  day 
to  school  work  has  been  tried,  but  the  most  common  practices  are  the 
alternating  weekly  plan,  and  the  plan  whereby  five  hours  out  of  one 
day  each  week  are  devoted  to  school  work.  In  the  case  of  the  half- 
time  plan,  production  is  continuous  and  no  machines  are  idle,  whereas 
in  the  case  of  the  latter  plan  the  places  of  the  workers  are  not  filled 
while  they  are  in  school. 

Amount  of  Time. 

To  cover  a  comprehensive  course  of  training  the  half-time  plan  op- 
erated for  a  period  of  three  or  four  years  is  preferable,  and  is  recom- 
mended both  from  the  standpoint  of  the  school  and  the  standpoint  of 
the  industry. 

Program  of  Work. 

Some  thirty  years5  experience  in  technical  and  trade  schools  in  the 
teaching  of  machine  and  related  technical  work  have  shown  that  valu- 
able training  both  in  the  theory  and  the  practice  of  this  work,  can  be 
given  in  a  school,  and  that  young  men  receiving  such  instruction  are 
adaptable  and  successful  in  the  business.  A  comprehensive  part-time 
plan  must  provide  for  instruction  in  the  related  technical  studies,  draw- 
ing, machine  design,  mechanics,  etc.  Since  few,  if  any,  shops  give  an 
adequate  training  and  all-round  experience  on  the  different  machines 
in  the  shop,  the  part-time  school  will  have  to  supplement  the  practical 
work  of  the  factory  by  the  necessary  demonstration  and  instruction  in 
the  proper  operation  of  machines  and  methods  of  doing  work. 

Where  proper  co-operation  between  the  shop  and  the  school  exist, 
it  should  be  so  arranged  that  the  boy  can  be  changed  from  machine  to 
machine  while  he  is  working  in  the  shop.  In  this  case  the  shop  work 
of  the  school  can  be  reduced  to  a  minimum,  but  we  have  no  evidence 
yet  to  show  that  such  a  plan  of  co-operation  can  be  brought  about  that 
the  practical  work  of  the  school  can  be  entirely  eliminated.  This  in- 
vestigation has  shown  that  only  a  small  percentage  of  the  boys  now 
working  under  existing  plans  of  co-operation  get  the  necessary  breadth 
of  training  in  the  shop.1 

1  See  conditions  in  machine  shops,  Appendix  C,  p.  65. 


140 

Where  only  five  hours  per  week  are  given  to  school  instruction,  the 
work  should  be  distinctly  vocational,  and  the  time  devoted  to  drawing, 
shop  calculations  and  mechanics.  The  instructors  in  the  school  should, 
however,  know  just  what  these  boys  are  doing  in  the  shops,  and  there 
should  be  such  co-operation  with  the  employer,  foreman  and  superin- 
tendent that  the  boys  will  be  changed  from  machine  to  machine  and 
from  department  to  department  to  enable  them  to  get  the  broadest 
possible  practical  experience.  Where  one  shop  is  so  equipped  or  is 
doing  such  a  class  of  work  that  it  is  unable  to  offer  such  an  experience, 
the  school,  through  its  instructors,  should  work  out  a  plan  whereby 
there  can  be  an  interchange  of  boys  between  the  different  establishments. 

PROGRAMS  FOR  CONFECTIONERY  MANUFACTURING. 
This  industry  is  usually  found  in  the  large  centers  of  population, 
notably  in  Boston  and  vicinity.  Because  of  the  low  pay  and  the  small 
amount  of  skill  required,  it  seems  to  draw  those  of  the  least  ability 
and  education.  It  seems  to  take  as  long  to  learn  to  do  such  skilled 
work  as  packing  as  it  does  to  learn  some  of  the  skilled  operations  per- 
formed by  women  in  the  shoe  business,  but  this  may  be  accounted  for 
by  the  fact  that  a  group  of  less  ability  enters  this  industry,  and  it 
naturally  takes  them  longer  to  learn.  It  is  probably  true  that  the 
practical  work  of  the  candy  factory  can  be  better  learned  in  the  indus- 
try itself  than  in  a  school. 

Amount  of  Time  and  Suggested  Programs. 

If  part-time  instruction  for  a  group  employed  in  the  candy  industry 
means  a  reduction  in  wage,  the  economic  condition  of  the  families  em- 
ployed in  this  industry  is  such  that  they  probably  could  not  stand  the 
loss  of  more  than  four  or  five  hours  per  week.  With  this  amount  of 
time  devoted  to  school  instruction,  it  would  hardly  be  practicable  to 
offer  more  than  training  in  the  household  arts.  Where  special  groups 
could  give  half  of  their  time,  the  school  could  probably  give  training 
which  would  extend  their  general  education,  as  well  as  practical  instruc- 
tion in  power-machine  operating,  dressmaking  and  millinery,  and 
discover  if  these  girls  could  be  fitted  for  any  of  these  lines  or  for  de- 
partment store  employment. 

PROGRAMS  FOR  DEPARTMENT  STORES. 

The  girls  and  boys  who  enter  this  employment  have  a  direct  use  for 
more  general  training  in  reading,  writing  and  arithmetic  than  almost 
any  other  group.  They  have,  on  the  whole,  progressed  farther  in 
school,  but  they  seem  to  be  as  much  in  need  of  instruction  in  the  prac- 
tical applications  of  these  subjects  as  are  the  individuals  of  any  other 
group.  The  ability  of  the  part-time  school  to  give  such  instruction  has 
been  demonstrated  beyond  any  reasonable  doubt.  The  work  done  in 


141 

training  for  salesmanship  in  department  stores  seems  to  have  demon- 
strated the  ability  of  the  school  to  give  training  which  will  fit  for  other 
departments  of  the  store  not  yet  reached,  and  to  give  a  training  for 
young  people  employed  in  the  mercantile  business  in  general,  including 
the  errand  and  messenger  service.  For  a  further  discussion  of  this 
phase  of  the  problem  see  Appendix  G,  by  Mrs.  John  T.  Prince. 

PRINTING  AND  PUBLISHING  PROGRAMS. 

Printing  and  publishing  should,  for  the  purpose  of  this  study,  be 
considered  under  two  separate  heads:  (a)  printing,  (fc)  binding. 

The  printing  trade  requires  a  very  high  degree  of  skill  on  the  part 
of  practically  all  its  workers;  while  the  work  in  the  binderies  could 
better  be  compared  with  that  in  the  machine  industry,  in  that  it  em- 
ploys a  large  number  of  people  with  little  skill  as  specialists  on  one 
machine  or  operation. 

From  the  advance  sheets  of  the  United  States  Census  for  1910,  Table 
I,  Appendix  A,  it  would  appear  that  in  1909  there  were  768  young 
people  between  fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age  employed  in  this 
line  of  work  in  Massachusetts.  Of  these,  606  were  boys  and  162  girls. 
The  printing  trade  takes  boys  under  sixteen  years  of  age,  but  rarely 
takes  girls  under  this  age.  The  binding  trade,  however,  employs  a 
larger  percentage  of  girls,  and  the  females  reported  were  probably 
employed  mainly  in  the  binding. 

Programs  of  part-time  schooling,  then,  should  deal  mainly  with  the 
printing  trade,  and  aim  to  train  compositors  and  pressmen,  linotype 
and  monotype  operators.  The  girls  employed  in  the  binderies  could 
be  given  little  if  anything  in  the  way  of  vocational  training,  and  the 
program  would  be  similar  to  that  suggested  for  confectionery  estab- 
lishments. 

Amount  and  Arrangement  of  Time. 

It  appears  from  interviews  with  employers  and  the  study  of  the 
work  in  this  industry  that  any  one  of  three  plans  could  be  successfully 
operated  in  connection  with  the  printing  business. 

There  is  a  great  deal  along  the  line  of  vocational  training  which  can 
be  given  in  this  trade,  and  the  largest  amount  of  time  possible  should 
be  devoted  to  the  school,  preferably  one  half  the  working  time.  The 
time  devoted  to  the  school  could  be  either  every  other  week,  half  of  each 
week  or  half  of  each  day. 

The  Lakeside  Press  of  Chicago  is  now  successfully  operating  a  part- 
time  school,  and  in  answer  to  the  question  as  to  the  best  arrangement 
of  time  the  following  statement  is  made :  — 

We  run  our  school  half -days  instead  of  week  about,  for  the  reason,  I 
'believe,  that  this  is  more  effective.  A  boy,  after  he  has  spent  three  and  a 
half  hours  in  the  school,  can  then  go  into  the  factory  without  having  his 
mind  tired,  and  I  believe  that  it  brings  the  work  of  the  boy  in  school  in 


142 

closer  touch  with  his  work  in  the  factory.  Of  course,  if  such  a  school 
is  not  in  the  same  building  as  the  factory,  the  week  about  would  be  a  more 
practical  scheme. 

If  the  school  is  located  near  the  plant,  the  plan  suggested  above 
would  work  successfully,  but  on  the  whole  it  is  probably  true  that  the 
weekly  plan  will  be  found  more  feasible  for  Massachusetts. 

There  are  large  numbers  of  small  printing  establishments  employing 
one  or  two  men  and  a  boy.  These  establishments  usually  get  out  a 
small  local  paper  and  do  job  printing.  It  has  been  found  that  they 
are  rushed  for  about  two  or  three  days  a  week  and  require  the  services 
of  a  boy  during  this  time,  but  could  get  along  without  him  the  rest  of 
the  week.  An  arrangement  is  now  made  with  three  different  establish- 
ments in  Newton  and  vicinity  whereby  six  different  boys  are  working 
in  a  printing  office  part-time  and  attending  the  vocational  school  the 
rest  of  the  week. 

Suggested  Programs. 

A  course  in  printing  should  be  divided  into  two  parts:  training  for 
compositors  and  training  for  pressmen.  The  school  training  should 
give  first  experience  in  both  press  work  and  composition  to  make  for 
a  general  understanding  of  the  business,  and  later  allow  the  boys  to 
specialize  in  the  department  for  which  they  seem  best  fitted.  One  half 
of  the  school  time  might  be  devoted  to  practical  composition  and  press 
work,  and  the  other  half  to  English,  history,  civics,  mathematics  and 
design,  a  great  deal  of  emphasis  being  laid  on  the  latter.  The  printing 
trade  is  more  and  more  in  need  of  men  who  cannot  only  set  type  and 
run  off  work  on  the  press,  but  who  can  produce  pieces  of  work  which 
are  really  beautiful  from  the  standpoint  of  design.  The  International 
Typographical  Union  has  already  recognized  this  principle  and  offers 
an  excellent  course  in  design. 

The  following  suggestions  embody  a  few  of  the  principles  which  may 
be  covered  in  a  course  of  training  for  boys  who  intend  to  be  compositors 
or  pressmen :  — 

Course  of  training  for  boys  who  intend  to  be  compositors. 

1.  How  to  stand  in  good  position  at  the  case. 

2.  How  to  hold  the  composing  stick. 

3.  How  to  space  a  line  correctly. 

4.  Display   composition. 

5.  Book  composition  and  makeup. 

Course  of  training  for  boys  who  wish  to  become  pressmen. 

1.  How  to  care  for  and  oil  the  printing  press. 

2.  How  to  feed  a  press. 

(a)  Eegister. 

(Z>)  Use  of  the  throw  off. 

3.  How  to  keep  up  the  color. 

4.  How  to  make  ready. 


143 

In  their  vocational  opportunities,  girls  are  usually  limited  to  the 

composing  room,  and  large  numbers  specialize  on  the  linotype  and 

monotype  keyboards.  The  following  is  suggested  as  a  part  of  their 
vocational  course :  — 

Course  of  training  for  girls  who  wish  to  become  compositors  and  keyboard 
operators  for  the  monotype. 

1.  How  to  hold  the  composing  stick. 

2.  How  to  space  a  line  correctly. 

3.  Practice  in  the  use  of  the  monotype  keyboard. 

In  addition  to  these,  the  course  for  girls  should  include  the  work  in 
household  arts  suggested  in  the  other  programs. 

A  statement  from  the  Lakeside  Press  as  to  why  their  school  was 
started  could  well  be  made  to  apply  to  the  conditions  and  needs  found 
in  the  printing  trade  in  Massachusetts.  Their  statement  follows :  — 

The  reason  the  school  was  started  was  to  train  our  own  apprentices.  We 
found  that  the  ordinary  compositor  was  not  trained  thoroughly,  but  gen- 
erally had  picked  up  his  trade  in  a  small  country  shop  where  the  equipment 
and  practice  were  both  poor.  He  had  drifted  into  the  city,  joined  the 
union  and  really  acquired  his  metropolitan  skill  by  holding  one  job  after 
another  until  he  had  become  competent  to  hold  a  job  steadily.  We  felt 
that  we  could  get  very  much  better  results  by  training  our  own  boys,  and 
we  would  also  get  an  esprit  de  corps  which  we  could  not  otherwise 
obtain.  .  .  . 

The  direct  inspiration  for  this  school  came  to  me  through  an  account  I 
read  in  the  report  of  the  Bureau  of  Commerce  and  Labor  on  the  apprentice- 
ship systems  of  Europe.  A  printing  firm  in  Paris  had  had  such  a  school 
for  some  eighty  years,  and  it  had  worked  successfully.  .  .  . 

We  did  not  intend  at  first  to  take  boys  until  they  were  sixteen  years  old, 
as  the  laws  of  Illinois  forbid  a  boy  younger  working  more  than  eight 
hours  a  day,  and  our  factory  runs  nine  hours  for  five  days  and  five 
hours  on  Saturday.  We  found,  however,  that  we  could  not  obtain  boys 
of  the  age  of  sixteen  who  had  not  been  ruined  by  the  two  years  of  in- 
cidental employment  and  loafing  around  the  streets.  We  accordingly  made 
up  our  mind  that  we  would  take  a  boy  directly  when  he  graduated  from 
grammar  school  at  fourteen  years,  and  keep  our  hand  on  him  all  the  time. 
We  do  not  take  boys  who  do  not  graduate  from  grammar  schools  before 
they  are  fifteen,  and  we  do  not  take  boys  who  have  worked  anywhere 
else.  .  .  . 

We  think  that  the  school  is  fulfilling  its  mission,  and  while  it  has 
been  in  existence  only  four  years,  and  our  oldest  boys  are  just  finishing 
the  fourth  year,  I  am  confident  that  these  boys  are  much  better  workmen 
than  the  ordinary  boy  of  that  age,  and  also  are  receiving  much  better 
general  education. 


144 


CONCLUSION. 

A  comprehensive  plan  of  part-time  schooling  will  not  leave  the  con- 
sideration of  the  problem  to  the  time  when  the  child  leaves  school  and 
takes  the  first  job  which  offers  an  opportunity  for  employment,  whether 
he  is  fitted  for  it  or  not,  but  will  deal  with  him  before  he  has  gone 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  school.  An  adequate  working  knowledge  of 
the  needs  and  possibilities  of  all  its  pupils,  and  the  making  of  plans 
for  meeting  these  needs,  is  a  problem  at  least  as  large  as  that  with 
which  the  schools  are  now  dealing,  and  one  which  cannot  be  handled 
alone  by  a  vocational  or  part-time  system,  or  any  other  which  is  set 
off  and  apart  from  the  agencies  which  first  deal  with  the  child. 

Every  large  school  system  needs  an  assistant  superintendent  whose 
special  duty  it  should  be  to  aid  the  general  superintendent  in  organiz- 
ing and  supervising  all  such  work  as  relates  to  the  child  who  is  not 
going  to  high  school  or  college.  All  vocational,  trade,  part-time  and 
continuation  schools,  and  all  the  manual  activities  of  the  regular  ele- 
mentary and  high  sdiools,  should  be  under  his  direction.  In  addition 
to  this,  there  should  be  an  attendance,  school  census  and  record  depart- 
ment which  should  have  the  facts  about  all  the  children  in  the  city, 
those  not  yet  in  school,  those  in  school  and  those  who  have  left  up  to 
the  age  of  at  least  eighteen  years.  The  organization  of  the  right  kind 
of  attendance  department  requires  a  grasp  of  the  whole  educational 
problem,  and  should  not  be  left  to  a  clerk  or  a  police  officer.  A  depart- 
ment of  educational  and  vocational  guidance,  related  to  every  other 
department  of  the  school  system  and  to  business  and  industry,  should 
be  organized  and  placed  under  the  supervision  of  an  educator  with 
special  qualifications  for  the  kind  of  work.  Such  a  department  should 
co-operate  closely  with  the  attendance  department.  Principals  and 
teachers  in  the  elementary  schools  should  be  able  to  turn  to  it  for 
advice  as  to  the  educational  and  vocational  opportunities  in  the  com- 
munity, and  to  secure  help  in  deciding  what  is  the  best  kind  of  training 
for  different  people  with  different  needs.  When  these  departments  are 
properly  organized,  it  will  be  quite  possible  to  develop  part-time  or 
any  other  work  needed  in  the  community.  In  a  small  school  system 
all  of  these  functions  will  of  necessity  be  combined  under  one  head. 
If  the  community  is  so  small  that  it  is  financially  unable  to  employ 
a  person  to  do  such  work,  then  it  should  unite  with  another  community 
which  is  similarly  situated,  in  which  case  the  State  should  exercise  more 
careful  supervision  than  would  be  necessary  in  the  larger  community. 

WHAT  is  THE  NEXT  STEP  IN  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  PRACTICAL  EDUCA- 
TION IN  MASSACHUSETTS. 

The  next  step  in  this  State  should  be  to  urge  each  community  to 
study  its  own  needs,  to  ascertain  the  real  facts  about  the  schools,  the 
children  and  the  industries,  and  to  create  a  public  sentiment  which  will 


145 

make  the  community  as  a  whole  really  face  these  facts,  and  do  at  least 
as  much  for  the  child  who  is  going  to  work  at  fourteen  as  most  com- 
munities are  now  doing  for  those  who  go  to  college.  In  this  connection 
it  is  suggested  that  such  information  as  the  following  be  collected :  — 

A.  Information  to  be   obtained  regarding  the  Schools  and  the  Children. 

(1)  How  many  children  of  each  age  are  there  in  the  community? 

(a)   How  many  are  in  school? 
(&)   How  many  are  at    work? 

(c)  How  many  are  neither  in  school  nor   at  work,  and  why? 

(2)  How  many  age  and  schooling  certificates  are  granted  each  year? 

(a)  For   what   industries   are   they  taken   out? 
(&)  What  are  the  ages  of  the  children  to  whom  these  are  granted? 
(c).  What  grade  have  they  reached  in  school,  and  if  a  low  grade, 
why? 

(d)  Are  they  physically  able  to  do  the  work  which  they,  plan  to 

undertake,   and   how  is   it  known  what   the   physical   require- 
ments are? 

(3)  Of  the  children  in  the  grades,  how  many  are  one  or  more  years  be- 

hind their  classes? 

(a)   Is  it  due  to  overcrowding   in   the   class  rooms? 
(&)  Is  it  due  to  the  presence  of  defective  or  foreign-born  children 

in  the  classes? 
(c)   It  is  due  to  work  which  is  ill  suited  to  their  needs  and  to  poor 

teaching  ? 

(4)  Of  the  children  in  the  grades,  how  many  plan  to  go  to  high  school, 

and  what  are   their  chances,  financial  or  otherwise,  of  doing 
this? 

(5)  Of  the  children  in  the  high  school,  how  many  plan  to  go  to  college, 

and  how  many  can  really   do  so? 

(6)  What  is  the  best  kind  of  training  that  can  be  offered  to  those  who  are 

not  going  to  college? 

(7)  What  means  are  now  used  to  find  out  what  are  the  future  plans  of 

parents  and  children  for  the  life  work  of  the  latter? 

B.  Information   to  be  obtained  regarding  Industries  in  the   Community,, 
both  those  which  employ  Children  and  those  which  do  not  take  Young 
People  under  eighteen  years. 

(1)  What  kinds  of  work  do  children  enter  upon  leaving  school? 

(a)  How  many  are  skilled  and  how  many  are  unskilled  occupa- 
tions? 

(fc)  What  is  the  future  in  each? 

(c)  What  training  can  be  given  in  school  which  will  enable  them 
to  gain  a  better  entrance  to  the  industry? 

(2)  What   are   the  undesirable   industries  from  the   standpoint   of  ability 

to  advance? 

(a)   Should   we   train   away   from   such  industries? 
(Z>)  If  so,  what  kind  of  training  should  we  give? 

(3)  What  kind   of   training   can   be   given   those   already  in   the  industry 

which  will  make  them  more  efficient  workers  and  fit  them  for 
promotion? 


146 


C.     Questions    to    be    considered   in   meeting    these    Needs. 

(1)  What  can  be  done  with  children  who  neither  work  nor  go  to  school? 

(a)   How   many  are   capable   of  work   and  how  many   are   not? 

(&)   What  can  be  done   in   the   way   of   vocational   education? 

(c)   What   can   be   done   for   children   and  adults   already   at   work? 

(1)   Through    part-time    day    courses.      (2)     Through    evening 

courses. 

(2)  What  schemes  of  part-time  work  have  been  inaugurated  in  other  cities? 

(a)   How  were  they  started? 

(3)  What  is  the  best   way  for   this   particular   community   to   start   part- 

time  or  any  other  vocational  work? 
(a)  Are  there  manufacturers  in  the  city  who   will  co-operate  with 

the  schools? 
(fe)   Can  they  furnish  teachers? 

(c)  Would  part   of  their  plants  be  available! 

(d)  How    many   young    people    could   be    accommodated    in    such    a 

plant? 

(e}   How  should  they  be  selected? 
(/)   How  should  the  work  be   supervised? 
(#)   How  much  would  it  cost  the  community  for  such  instruction? 

Those  who  have  the  educational  interests  of  the  city  or  town  in  their 
keeping  might  well  secure  the  co-operation  of  employers  and  others 
in  studying  this  problem.  Such  a  study  recently  made  in  the  city  of 
Quincy  resulted  in  a  report  with  recommendations  to  the  school  com- 
mittee and  city  government  that  more  practical  work  along  the  lines 
of  manual  training,  cooking  and  sewing  be  offered  to  all  children  in 
the  grades;  that  a  full-time  clay  vocational  school  be  established  for 
those  who  can  profitably  devote  from  one  to  three  years  to  a  school 
with  practical  courses,  and  that  for  those  who  are  already  in  the  trade 
part-time  courses  be  established.  This  study  revealed  the  real  needs 
in  the  community,  interested  those  who  are  employing  young  help, 
showed  them  how  they  could  contribute  to  the  solution  of  the  problem, 
and  made  those  responsible  for  the  finances  of  the  city  realize  that,  as 
a  matter  of  justice,  something  should  be  done  to  make  the  schools  meet 
the  needs  of  all  the  children  in  the  community.1 

1  A  similar  study  is  soon  to  appear,  "A  Trade  School  for  Girls,"  which  is  a  report  of  a  pre- 
liminary investigation  in  a  typical  manufacturing  city,  Worcester,  Mass.,  made  by  the  Depart- 
ment of  Research  of  the  Women's  Educational  and  Industrial  Union  of  Boston.  Three  other 
studies  which  will  throw  light  upon  the  industrial  training  for  girls  will  be  published  in  1913  by 
the  Department  of  Research,  one  on  dressmaking,  one  on  millinery,  and  the  third  a  study  of 
.the  boot  and  shoe  industry. 


147 


APPENDIX  G. 


PART-TIME    EDUCATION   IN    COMMERCIAL    ESTABLISH- 
MENTS. 

MRS.  JOHN  T.  PRINCE. 

INTRODUCTION. 

In  the  year  1911  there  were  approximately  4,000  boys  and  girls  be- 
tween fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age  in  the  department  stores  of 
Massachusetts;  or  one  tenth  of  all  the  young  people  at  work  in  this 
State.  As  a  group  they  are  poorly  educated,  of  poor  home  traditions, 
undernourished  and  unambitious;  yet  it  is  from  this  group  that  many 
of  the  leaders  in  commerce  have  been  in  the  past  largely  drawn.  The 
question,  therefore,  which  this  report  attempts  to  answer  is,  how  may 
this  class  be  further  helped  by  education?  And  in  what  form  should 
that  education  be  given?  What  are  the  needs  of  this  group,  and  the 
needs  of  the  store  and  the  community  in  relation  to  this  group,  and 
how  should  these  needs  be  satisfied? 

There  are  three  chief  sources  of  material  to  be  used  in  a  considera- 
tion of  this  problem:  (1)  the  published  report  of  the  Commission  on 
Minimum  Wage  Boards;  (2)  personal  interviews  by  agents  of  this  in- 
vestigation with  managers  and  superintendents  of  department  stores; 
and  (3)  the  records  of  the  salesmanship  school  of  the  Women's  Edu- 
cational and  Industrial  Union,  to  which  we  shall  refer  hereafter  as  the 
Union  School  of  Salesmanship. 

The  report  of  the  Commission  on  Minimum  Wage  Boards  furnishes 
material  on  the  economic  condition  of  the  women  of  the  department- 
store  group,  while  the  personal  interviews  have  presented  the  point  of 
view  of  managers  as  to  the  needs  of  the  store  in  its  relation  to  the 
young  workers.  The  material  of  the  School  of  Salesmanship  is  of 
unique  value.  The  school  has  kept  an  exact  record  of  the  educational 
and  industrial  history  of  each  pupil  in  the  school  up  to  her  entrance, 
her  progress  during  training,  and  an  annual  record  of  her  position, 
firm  and  wage  afterwards.  It  is  therefore  possible  to  discover  to  some 
extent  what  effect  vocational  training  actually  has  had  on  the  girl  who 
has  been  trained.  It  is  fair  to  assume  that  whatever  effect  the  school 
has  had  on  the  247  girls  of  whom  we  have  complete  records  (about  one 
half  of  the  total  enrollment  of  the  school),  it  would  be  equalled  by 
similar  training  for  the  much  larger  group  investigated  by  the  Mini- 
mum Wage  Commission,  since  the  group  reached  by  the  school  was 


148 


slightly  below  the  level  of  the  larger  group  as  to  nationality  and  also 
wage.  That  is,  the  group  of  the  school  was,  measured  in  terms  of 
dollars  and  cents,  less  capable  before  their  training  than  the  general 
run  of  department-store  women.  The  importance  of  such  a  record  of 
an  actual  experiment  with  a  group  in  no  way  exceptional  is  absolutely 
beyond  estimate. 

TABLE  I.  —  Number  and  percentage  of  store  employees  who  were  native 
and  foreign  born. 


BY  THIS  SCHOOL  GROUP. 

BY  MINIMUM   WAGE   IN- 
VESTIGATION. 

FIRST  GENERA- 
TION. 

SECOND  GENERA- 
TION. 

FIRST  GENERA- 
TION. 

SECOND  GENERA- 
TION. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 

cent. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 

cent. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Native  born, 

210 

81.7 

83 

32.4 

2,207 

83 

880 

33.0 

Foreign  born, 

42 

18.2 

174 

67.6 

454 

17 

1,781 

66.9 

Table  I  shows  the  number  and  percentage  of  women  who  are  of  the 
first  generation  of  native  or  foreign  birth;  that  is,  it  shows  the  number 
and  percentage  of  those  who  were  actually  born  in  this  country  and 
those  who  were  not.  It  also  shows  the  number  and  percentage  of  those 
who  are  born  of  native  or  foreign  parents;  that  is,  of  the  second  gen- 
eration; and  it  shows  this  for  two  groups,  the  group  attending  the 
Union  School  and  the  much  larger  and  certainly  typical  group  investi- 
gated by  the  Minimum  Wage  Commission. 

Table  I  shows  that  81.7  per  cent,  of  the  Union  School  group  are 
native  born,  as  compared  to  83  per  cent,  of  the  minimum  wage  group; 
that  only  32.4  per  cent,  are  born  of  native  parents,  as  compared  to 
33  per  cent,  in  the  minimum  wage  group.  Such  a  close  relation  in 
these  proportions  indicates  that  the  Union  School,  group  was  not 
selected. 

TABLE  II.1  —  Ages  of  women  in  retail  stores  in  Boston. 


AT  TIME  OF  ATTENDANCE 
IN  SALESMANSHIP  SCHOOL. 

IN  ALL  BOSTON 
STORES  IN  THE  MINIMUM 

WAGE  INVESTIGATION.2 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Under  16  

1 

.4 

109 

6.0 

16  to  17,      

32 

12.5 

282 

15.6 

18  to  20  

116 

45.7 

442 

24.4 

21  to  24  

79 

30.9 

417 

23.0 

25  and  over,        

28 

10.9 

561 

31.0 

»  See  Table  IV. 


2  From  report  of  Commission  on  Minimum  Wage  Boards,  p.  96. 


149 

Table  II  shows  the  number  and  percentage  of  women  at  each  age  in 
the  Salesmanship  School  and  in  the  larger  group  investigated  by  the 
Minimum  Wage  Commission.  The  same  fact  may  be  inferred  from 
this  table  as  from  Table  I.  The  pupils  of  the  Union  School  came 
largely  from  the  group  which  contains  the  greater  proportion  of  de- 
partment-store workers,  —  45.7  per  cent,  from  the  group  of  eighteen 
to  twenty  years  of  age.  There  were  few  very  young  girls  and  few, 
though  not  an  inconsiderable  proportion,  10.9  per  cent.,  twenty-five 
years  of  age  and  over.  In  a  sense,  the  Union  School  group  is  typical 
of  workers  in  department  stores. 

In  1905  and  1906  the  work  of  the  Union  School  was  still  in  its  ex- 
perimental stage.  It  began  with  a  small  class  whose  only  selling  experi- 
ence was  that  furnished  by  the  food  sales  room  of  the  union,  —  an 
experience  entirely  different  from  that  of  department  stores.  In  Janu- 
ary, 1906,  a  second  class  of  six  members  took  up  the  work.  These 
girls,  too,  had  only  the  limited  experience  which  the  union  itself  could 
offer  in  selling.  The  year  following  six  of  the  leading  stores  of  Boston 
joined  to  co-operate  with  the  school.  The  superintendents  of  these 
stores  formed  an  advisory  committee  for  the  school,  meeting  once  a 
month  with  the  president  of  the  union  and  the  director  of  the  class  for 
discussion  and  conference.  These  meetings  had  a  reciprocal  influence; 
they  kept  the  school  alive  to  meet  the  real  needs  of  the  store,  and  they 
kept  the  store  alive  to  the  value  of  training.  They  also  cemented  the 
bond  between  the  store  and  the  school,  —  a  factor  which  has  largely 
contributed  to  the  success  of  the  school. 

The  policy  as  planned  with  the  advisory  committee  at  this  time  was 
that  candidates  should  be  sent  from  the  stores  and  admitted  to  the 
school  if  approved  by  the  director;  that  they  should  sell  in  the  stores 
on  each  Monday,  and  should  be  paid  $1  for  this  service.  This  arrange- 
ment was  found  to  be  unsatisfactory.  The  girls  needed  more  actual 
experience  in  the  store,  and  the  most  promising  candidates  could  not 
afford,  or  were  not  willing  to  afford,  the  loss  in  wage  incurred.  After 
consultation  with  the  advisory  committee  the  time  schedule  was  changed 
so  that  the  girls  spent  half  their  time  in  school  and  half  at  the  store, 
and  for  this  half-time  work  were  paid  $3.  They  came  to  the  school 
from  8.30  to  11  A.M.  and  from  4.30  to  5.30  P.M. 

The  only  important  change  since  then  has  been  in  the  hours  of  attend- 
ance and  the  wage.  The  pupils  now  come  from  8.30  to  11.30  A.M.,  and 
do  not  return  to  the  school  in  the  afternoon.  They  are  paid  the  full 
wage,  which  they  receive  at  the  time  of  entering  the  school;  no  deduc- 
tion at  all  is  made  for  the  time  spent  in  the  school.  This  means  that 
the  school  has  passed  the  experimental  stage,  that  it  is  an  established 
success  in  the  opinion  of  the  stores  which  are  trying  to  have  the  school 
enlarge  its  membership,  and  also  in  the  opinion  of  the  workers,  who 
continue  to  apply  in  much  greater  numbers  than  can  be  admitted.  The 
records  of  this  school  and  the  experience  of  its  director,  together  with 


150 


the  material  of  the  Minimum  Wage  Boards  Commission  and  the  per- 
sonal interviews  of  the  agents  of  this  investigation,  should  be  sufficient 
to  form  accurate  conclusions  as  to  the  need  for  and  the  practicability 
of  part-time  schooling. 

II.    NEED  FOR  TRAINING. 

In  comparison  with  the  other  young  workers  in  industry  the  em- 
ployees of  department  stores  seem  to  be  relatively  more  fortunate  in 
education.  They  are  not  so  frequently  forced  by  the  pressure  of  poverty 
from  the  school  as  soon  as  the  law  ceases  to  hold  them,  and  they  are  not 
so  largely  a  "  backward  "  group.  Only  7  per  cent,  left  school  before  the 
eighth  grade;  the  majority,  56  per  cent.,  left  in  the  eighth  and  ninth; 
more  than  a  third,  37  per  cent.,  went  into  high  school.  The  demands 
of  the  stores  for  as  great  an  amount  of  schooling  as  they  can  get  in 
their  workers  is  increasing  and  may  make  these  young  people,  from  an 
educational  point  of  view,  a  selected  group  in  the  larger  mass  of  boys 
and  girls  at  work.  One  store  will  not  accept  any  one  in  any  depart- 
ment of  the  store  who  has  not  a  grammar  school  diploma,  and  also 
refuses  all  who  are  under  seventeen  years,  because  the  very  young 
workers  are  not  educationally  fit. 

TABLE  III.  —  Age  left  public  school. 

From  the  records  of  Union  School  of  Salesmanship. 


AGE  LEFT. 

13. 

14. 

15. 

16. 

17. 

18. 

19. 

20. 

Number,      .... 
Per  cent.,     .... 

20 
8.2 

72 
29.3 

60 
24.5 

38 
-  « 
27. 

30 

20 

4 

1 

7 

10.2 

Table  III  shows  the  number  and  percentage  leaving  school  at  each 
age;  8.2  per  cent,  left  school  before  the  legal  age;  29.3  per  cent,  left 
school  at  fourteen  years;  24.5  per  cent,  left  at  fifteen  years;  37.9  per 
cent,  left  at  sixteen  years  or  over,  which  is  an  unusually  high  propor- 
tion for  an  industry  employing  juvenile  help. 

Yet  this  proportion  is  not  what  it  might  be  if  the  schools  offered 
what  would  hold  the  interest  of  these  young  people  longer.  Forty-one 
per  cent,  left  because  school  failed  to  interest  them,  either  because  it 
did  not  offer  the  means  to  livelihood,  or  because  they  were  behind  their 
class,  or  because  they  wanted  to  work.  Only  40  per  cent,  were  forced 
to  leave;  less  than  half  came  from  families  who  needed  either  the  wage 
they  could  earn  or  their  work  in  the  home.  The  remainder  left  school 
for  various  personal  reasons.  Two  fifths  could  not  have  stayed  in 
school  no  matter  what  attractive  or  valuable  training  might  be  offered, 
but  two  fifths  of  the  girls  might,  it  seems,  have  been  kept  longer  in 


151 

school  if  they  had  been  offered  a  course  sufficiently  practical  to  arouse 
their  interest. 

Now,  while  measured  by  the  age  they  left  school  and  by  the  grade 
they  reached  in  school,  these  children  might  seem  prepared,  yet  meas- 
ured by  the  knowledge  they  have  acquired  they  are  seriously  handi- 
capped. Although  93  per  cent,  of  these  girls  have  spent  seven  years 
or  more  in  school,  they  have  not  acquired  the  rudiments  of  an  educa- 
tion. It  was  found  at  the  Salesmanship  School  that  it  was  necessary 
to  begin  at  the  very  beginning  in  arithmetic.  One  test  question,  "  How 
much  would  %  of  a  yard  of  a  ribbon  cost  at  19  cents  a  yard  ?  "  —  a 
problem  not  uncommon  in  stores,  —  brought  answers  from  1  cent  to 
5  cents  out  of  the  way,  and,  further,  brought  out  the  fact  that  they 
really  did  not  know  anything  about  the  process  of  arriving  at  an 
answer.  The  usual  method  was  to  ask  the  more  experienced  girl  next 
to  them,  who  had  gained  her  knowledge  by  asking  the  girl  next  to  her, 
—  a  process  fraught  with  all  the  hazards  of  uncertain  memories  and 
remote  traditions.  The  voice  of  store  managers  and  superintendents 
is  almost  unanimous  in  condemning  the  unfitness  of  school  training  for 
practical  work;  they  estimate  that  about  half  of  those  admitted  to  the 
stores  are  forced  to  leave  and  go  into  an  unskilled  trade,  and  that  75 
per  cent,  fail  of  promotion  because  they  lack  the  fundamental  three  R's. 
There  is  evidently  a  very  great  need  for  more  efficient  general  training 
to  prepare  the  necessary  foundation  for  any  life  work.  These  young 
people  lack  the  confidence  and  the  reasonable  hope  that  makes  ambition 
possible;  they  are  cut  off  at  the  very  start  from  many  chances  of 
success. 

There  is  a  training  in  the  elements  of  commercial  life  just  as  neces- 
sary to  special  success  as  the  fundamental  education  supposed  to  be 
given  in  our  grammar  schools  is  to  all  success.  These  elements  are  the 
"  tools  of  the  trade."  A  knowledge  of  the  selling  points  of  goods, 
familiarity  with  store  system,  quick  appreciation  and  practical  knowl- 
edge of  the  method  of  handling  the  different  varieties  of  customers, — 
these  are  things  which  are  the  three  R's  of  the  selling  business.  It  is 
absurd  to  expect  the  girl  behind  the  counter  to  pick  up  this  knowledge. 
After  years  of  experience  and  blunders  she  has  an  empirical  knowledge 
of  what  one  can  and  cannot  say  to  customers,  what  the  qualities  of  the 
goods  she  sells  are  and  how  the  mechanics  of  selling  should  be  con- 
ducted. But  the  principles  which  underlie  this  knowledge,  which  would 
have  made  its  acquirement  infinitely  easier  and  its  application  so  much 
surer,  she  will  never  know  unless  she  is  of  an  exceptionally  inquiring 
mind.  She  knows  that  a  serge  wears  better  than  a  broadcloth,  but  to 
the  customer's  why  she  can  only  answer  in  vague,  general  terms  that 
it  does,  because  everybody  finds  it  so. 

To  the  girl  the  training  means  all  the  difference  between  a  dull  task 
mechanically  performed  and  an  opportunity  to  exercise  every  atom  of 
brain  and  knowledge  in  a  game  of  skill,  competing  with  other  eager 


152 


young  minds  for  high  rewards.  Instead  of  being  eight  hours  of  me- 
chanical work  they  may  be  hours  of  keenest  living  and  largest  oppor- 
tunity for  the  development  of  personality.  Add  to  this  interest  in  the 
work  the  happiness  of  efficiency  and  the  comfort  of  prosperity,  then  the 
universal  testimony  of  the  girls  to  their  affection  for  the  school  will 
be  no  cause  for  wonder.  The  conclusive  argument  for  the  value  of 
training  to  the  young  worker  is  to  be  found  in  the  accompanying  table, 
which  shows  that  while  before  their  training  the  Union  Salesmanship 
pupils  as  a  group  were  below  the  normal  group  investigated  by  the 
Commission  on  Minimum  Wage  Boards,  after  it  they  were  decidedly 
above  it. 

TABLE  IV.  —  Comparison  of  earnings  of  group  investigated  by  the 
Commission  on  Minimum  Wage  Boards  with  earnings  of  girls 
attending  salesmanship  classes  before  and  after  their  training. 


CUMULATIVE  NUMBER  OP  WOMEN  WITH 

AVERAGE  WEEKLY  EARNINGS  OP  — 

$4  and 
under. 

$5  and 
under. 

$6  and 
under. 

$7  and 
under. 

$8  and 
under. 

Over  $8. 

Minimum  Wage  Commission, 

358 

554 

973 

1,375 

1,672 

845 

Union  School  of  Salesmanship  : 

Before  training, 

4 

32 

56 

136 

159 

21 

After  training, 

- 

- 

1 

29 

77 

56 

CUMULATIVE  PERCENTAGE  OP  WOMEN  WITH 

AVERAGE  WEEKLY  EARNINGS  OP  — 

$4  and 
under. 

$5  and 
under. 

$6  and 
under. 

$7  and 
under. 

$8  and 
under. 

Over  $8. 

Minimum  Wage  Commission,     . 

14.2 

22.0 

38.6 

54.7  ' 

66.4 

33.6 

Union  School  of  Salesmanship: 

Before  training, 

2.2 

11.9 

31.0 

75.4 

88.2 

11.8 

After  training, 

- 

- 

0.7 

21.5 

57.3 

42.7 

Table  IV  shows  the  number  and  percentage  of  girls  at  each  wage 
before  their  training  and  after,  as  compared  to  the  normal  group  pre- 
sented by  the  Minimum  Wage  Commission;  31  per  cent,  received  $6* 
or  less  before  the  training ;  after  the  training  only  0.7  per  cent,  received 
$6  and  under.  Before  training  only  11.8  per  cent,  received  more  than 
$8  a  week  remuneration ;  after  the  training  42.7  per  cent,  received  more 
than  $8  a  week.  The  Minimum  Wage  Commission  found  only  33.6  per 
cent,  earning  more  than  $8  a  week.  That  is,  the  training  actually  raised 
a  subnormal  group  above  the  normal. 


153 

That  such  willing  service  must  mean  a  very  different  return  to  the 
store  from  the  haughty  and  unwilling  attitude  of  the  ordinary  un- 
trained saleswoman  is  obvious.  These  young  women,  besides  showing 
such  fundamental  change  in  the  spirit  of  their  work,  do  possess  the  tools 
of  efficiency,  without  which  the  most  willing  spirit  must  fall  short.  The 
stores  need  such  training  for  their  workers  almost  as  much  as  the 
workers  need  it  for  themselves. 

There  is  another  interest  very  rarely  touched  upon  in  such  considera- 
tions, but  one  that,  here  at  least,  should  not  be  overlooked,  —  the  interest 
of  the  public.  Since  little  clothing  is  made  in  the  home  now  it  is  no 
longer  as  possible  for  the  housewife  to  buy  intelligently,  as  formerly. 
It  should  therefore  be  the  function  of  the  salesperson  to  give  advice, 
which  has  knowledge  behind  it,  and  to  meet  the  individual  needs  of  all 
customers.  The  good  service  they  could  do  the  world  by  expert  under- 
standing of  the  needs  of  different  people  and  the  possibilities  of  satis- 
fying them  is  inestimable.  From  every  point  of  view,  therefore,  there 
is  a  real  and  urgent  need  of  vocational  training  for  the  young  people 
in  department  stores. 

III.    MEANS  EXISTING  AT  PRESENT  FOR  TRAINING  IN  SALESMANSHIP. 

Since  the  work  began,  nearly  seven  years  ago,  at  the  Women's  Edu- 
cational and  Industrial  Union  in  Boston,  there  has  been  a  gradual 
awakening  all  over  the  country  to  the  need  of  just  that  training  which 
was  devised  and  put  into  practice  for  the  saleswomen  of  Boston. 
Largely  through  this  influence  schools  of  salesmanship  have  been  estab- 
lished in  stores  and  schools  in  Cincinnati,  Cleveland,  Kalamazoo,  Chi- 
cago, St.  Louis  and  San  Francisco,  with  leaders  trained  by  the  organizer 
of  the  Union  School.  That  is,  the  work  which  began  obscurely  and 
experimentally  has  answered  so  truly  to  a  need  that  it  has  spread  over 
the  country. 

Besides  stores  in  these  five  cities,  the  Wanamaker  stores  have  estab- 
lished schools  under  their  own  roof.  The  schools  of  the  Wanamaker 
stores  differ  radically  from  those  which  are  or  have  been  connected 
with  the  Union  School  of  Salesmanship.  Here  the  boys  and  girls  who 
have  not  a  diploma  from  the  grammar  school  are  put  under  the  instruc- 
tion of  regular  public  school  teachers  until  they  graduate.  The  store 
has  done  this  to  supplement  the  insufficient  education  of  the  young 
workers. 

In  Boston  six  stores  send  pupils  to  the  Union  School.  Other  stores 
have  tried  to  have  their  workers  admitted  to  the  school,  and  the  stores 
that  have  always  sent  pupils  have  tried  to  have  the  school  enlarged  so 
that  it  would  take  a  larger  proportion  of  those  who  need  to  come. 
Since  it  has  been  impossible  to  enlarge  the  school,  the  stores  have,  in 
three  of  these  cases,  established  schools  under  their  own  roofs,  which 
are  carried  on  bv  teachers  trained  in  the  Union  School.  But  stores 


154 

are  not  primarily  fitted  for  educational  work,  and  tend  to  narrow  the 
training  to  just  the  mechanics  of  store  work,  —  a  knowledge  of  the  sales 
slip  and  the  store  system,  —  whereas  the  public  school  can  train  for  the 
larger  issue  of  civic  responsibility  as  well. 

In  Germany,  the  pioneer  country  in  industrial  education,  there  has 
been  training  in  textiles  for  some  time ;  but  in  no  country  and  in  no  city 
of  the  world  until  it  was  established  in  Boston  has  there  ever  been  any- 
thing resembling  the  course  of  salesmanship  now  taken  as  a  standard  in 
so  many  places  in  the  United  States.  In  this  at  least  we  are  first  in  the 
field,  —  and  it  is  still  largely  an  open  field.  The  whole  number  trained 
by  the  school  in  Boston  is  a  very  small  proportion  of  the  4,000  which 
it  is  now  proposed  to  educate. 

Apprenticeship. 

It  might  be  supposed  that  since  there  are  so  few  vocational  schools 
there  must  exist  in  the  stores  some  more  informal  species  of  training, 
like  the  old  apprenticeship  system.  This  is  not  so.  Formerly,  workers 
were  taken  on  young,  who  were  expected  to  remain  permanently.  That 
is,  the  owner  of  a  store  had  definitely  the  future  prospects  of  the  young 
helper  in  his  eye  when  he  entered  the  store.  Now  there  is  nothing  of 
that  sort.  Provided  the  applicants  will  make  tolerable  cash  girls  or 
stock  boys,  nothing  further,  as  a  rule,  is  asked  or  required  of  them. 
They  are  admitted  in  vast  hordes  to  this  outer  court,  and  those  get  to 
the  inner  temple  who  can.  That  is,  they  are  simply  given  the  oppor- 
tunity to  "  pick  up  "  some  knowledge  of  the  store  and  of  goods,  and 
all  the  responsibility  for  their  advancement  is  on  themselves.  Yet  these 
people  who  are  expected  to  grasp  knowledge  eagerly  and  seek  advance- 
ment boldly  are  still  very  young,  somewhat  less  timid,  perhaps,  than 
their  brothers  and  sisters  in  sheltered  schools,  but  still  little  more  than 
children.  The  stores  complain  that  they  cannot  find  enough  capable 
people  for  responsible  positions,  yet  they  restrict  the  flow  at  its  very 
source,  by  not  attempting  to  choose  or  shape  the  training  of  the  young 
people  who  enter  the  store  in  minor  positions  for  the  advanced  positions 
which  are  so  difficult  to  fill.  And  are  they  in  fault  in  this  ?  The  problem 
is  no  longer  the  store's  problem ;  it  belongs  to  the  State  and  the  school. 

Throughout  the  entire  organization  of  the  store  it  is  the  same.  The 
workers  absorb  what  scraps  of  knowledge  lie  on  the  surface,  and  on 
the  strength  of  this  some  demand  more  pay,  and  a  few,  more  respon- 
sibility. The  vast  majority  do  not  know  when  they  are  worth  more 
pay,  and  so  are  discouraged,  or  at  least  so  little  encouraged  by  this 
knowledge,  which  they  themselves  feel  to  be  scrappy  and  uncertain 
and  based  on  still  more  uncertain  foundations,  that  they  do  not  dare  to 
undertake  responsible  positions  even  when  they  are  offered  to  them. 
The  stores,  like  the  factorized  industries,  are  caught  in  the  eddy  be- 
tween the  tide  of  apprenticeship,  which  is  retreating,  and  the  stream 
of  industrial  education  and  State  responsibility,  which  is  yet  in  its 
feeble  beginnings. 


155 


Possible  Means  of  Education. 

It  has,  therefore,  been  established  that  the  children  in  department 
stores  need  vocational  and  general  training,  and  that  it  is  necessary  for 
the  good  of  the  stores  and  the  public.  The  question  then,  becomes, 
what  is  the  most  desirable  form  for  this  education  to  take?  Should 
it  be  given  in  evening  school  work;  should  the  compulsory  day-school 
period  be  extended  to  include  it;  or  should  it  be  given  in  some  form 
of  part-time  school? 

The  first  two  possibilities  are  easily  disposed  of.  It  is  impossible  for 
a  young  person  to  do  good  work  eight  hours  a  day  in  the  store  and 
do  good  thinking  for  two  hours  in  the  evening.  There  are  few  people 
now  who  question  the  truth  of  this.  The  evening  schools  provide 
opportunity  for  the  exceptionally  ambitious,  and  it  is  agreed  that  even 
these  are  forced  to  slight  either  the  day  work  or  their  school  work,  or, 
what  is  more  disastrous,  their  health.  Moreover,  a  part-time  or  day- 
school  period  would  eliminate  the  social  and  moral  disadvantages  of 
the  evening  school,  which  is  often  misused  by  boys  and  girls  from 
fourteen  to  seventeen  years  of  age  as  a  meeting  place.  If  the  part-time 
schooling  is  made  compulsory  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  seven- 
teen the  young  people  will  not  lose  what  was  gained  in  the  elementary 
schools;  and  the  discipline  of  some  regular  work,  so  directed  that  it 
will  hold  them,  will  develop  ambition  and  raise  standards  which  will 
tend  to  make  them  want  evening  school  when  they  are  older  and  phys- 
ically better  able  to  stand  the  strain.  This  is  actually  one  of  the  out- 
comes of  the  splendid  continuation  system  of  Munich.  After  finishing 
compulsory  continuation  school,  at  the  age  of  seventeen  or  eighteen 
years,  the  boys  then  wish  to  continue  at  the  evening  schools.  An  ex- 
tension of  the  compulsory  day-school  period  would  be  possible  for  that 
40  per  cent,  of  the  4,000  who  left  school  because  it  failed  to  interest 
them;  but  there  would  be  no  need  to  make  the  extension  compulsory 
if  courses  were  offered  which  would  interest  them.  Automatically  some 
portion  of  them  would  sift  into  the  group  staying  longer  at  school. 
For  the  40  per  cent,  who  were  forced  by  the  pressure  of  necessity  to 
leave  school,  any  extension  of  the  period  of  schooling  would  mean 
severe  hardship.  It  should  not  be  considered  as  possible  at  all.  Even 
for  those  who  leave  school  because  they  "  hate  it,"  it  is  not  evident 
that  it  would  be  desirable  for  them  to  stay  longer,  even  if  the  training 
offered  were  of  a  sort  to  interest  them.  They  are  a  type  interested 
much  more  in  doing  things  than  in  studying,  and  are  much  more  likely 
to  be  induced  to  think  if  they  are  offered  things  to  do  to  think  about. 
That  is,  for  two  fifths  of  the  group  part-time  schooling  is  the  only 
form  which  is  economically  possible;  for  another  two  fifths  it  is  prob- 
ably more  desirable  than  full-time  schooling.  The  question  remaining 
for  discussion  is,  then,  is  part-time  school  practicable?  Can  the  stores 
prosper  with  it,  can  the  children  afford  it,  can  the  State  manage  to 
give  it? 


156 

The  answer  to  the  first  part  of  this  question  is  necessarily  more  or 
less  conjectural.  Part-time  schooling  would  mean  that  there  would  have 
to  be  some  extra  force  to  fill  the  places  of  those  who  are  at  school. 
Already  most  stores  have  a  group  of  extra  workers  to  fill  the  places 
of  those  who  are  ill;  part-time  schooling  might  mean  some  enlargement 
of  this  force.  It  would  depend  entirely  on  the  months  and  the  hours 
taken  for  the  school.  If  the  school  is  not  opened  in  the  rush  seasons 
at  Christmas  and  Easter,  if  it  will  be  content  with  eight  hours,  or  two 
mornings  each  week,  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  necessary 
number  added  to  the  force  should  be  very  large.  It  must  be  considered 
that  workers  who  are  at  school  are  much  more  efficient  than  those  ab- 
sorbed in  the  dull  routine  of  the  day;  that  they  are  quite  capable, 
except  where  the  work  is  of  such  a  mechanical  nature  as  to  require  a 
fixed  number  of  workers  all  the  time,  of  performing  their  full  work 
in  the  five  sixths  of  the  time  ordinarily  allowed.  The  pupils  of  the 
Union  School  of  Salesmanship  after  a  few  weeks'  training  sell  as  much 
in  half  a  day  as  they  did  formerly  in  their  full  day.  Considering, 
therefore,  the  very  great  advantage  which  the  stores  would  derive  from 
properly  trained  helpers,  it  does  not  seem  as  if  some  slight  addition 
to  the  extra  force  should  prohibit  part-time  schooling. 

The  question  of  the  possibility  for  the  children  of  affording  part- 
time  schooling  depends  on  the  first  question,  —  that  of  the  store's  atti- 
tude. The  stores  have  to  come  to  the  point  where  they  feel  that 
training,  efficient  as  it  is  in  the  school  of  the  Women's  Educational  and 
Industrial  Union,  is  worth  the  time  of  their  workers  at  full  pay.  It 
is  more  than  probable  that  they  will  feel  the  same  way  about  a  State 
school  if  they  are  convinced  that  it  will  be  as  efficient.  That  is,  in  all 
probability  there  will  be,  there  should  be,  no  question  of  the  possibility 
of  affording  such  training  for  the  boys  and  girls  in  the  stores.  And 
this  should  not  be  considered  philanthropy  on  the  part  of  the  stores; 
an  enlightened  self-interest  would  dictate  the  same  position.  The  crux 
of  the  question  lies  in  the  efficiency  of  such  schools ;  an  inefficient  school 
would  be  far  worse  than  none  at  all,  since  it  would  check  a  movement 
already  well  under  way. 

The  final  point  then,  remains,  can  the  State  manage  to  give  the  train- 
ing efficiently?  There  are  few  material  difficulties.  Such  a  school 
requires  less  equipment  than  any  other;  tables,  chairs  and  a  black- 
board are  all  that  are  absolutely  necessary.  A  good  textile  exhibit  is 
also  essential,  but  this  could  be  acquired  gradually,  and  is  in  no  way 
a  prohibitory  expense.  Teachers  are  the  one  important  and  expensive 
part  of  the  equipment,  and  care  must  be  taken  that  enough  teachers 
are  ready  for  the  continuation  school  before  the  training  is  made  com- 
pulsory. 

On  account  of  the  great  demand  for  teachers,  not  only  in  Boston  but 
in  many  other  cities,  a  normal  course  for  the  training  of  teachers  is 


157 

carried  on  in  connection  with  the  Salesmanship  School.  This  course 
consists  of  the  observation  and  practice  of  teaching  in  the  school,  with 
correlated  store  work  and  critical  analysis  of  all  work;  advanced 
courses  in  education,  applied  psychology  and  textiles;  and  of  actual 
store  experience  on  Mondays  and  during  holiday  seasons.  A  six  weeks' 
course  in  economics  of  industry  is  offered  by  Simmons  College. 

Of  the  15  teachers  who  have  taken  the  training,  9  were  college  grad- 
uates, 2  normal  school  graduates  and  4  had  no  special  training.  The 
8  now  in  training  are  all  college  graduates,  most  of  whom  have  had 
teaching  experience  besides.  The  director  is  convinced  that  a  broad 
college  education  is  desirable  for  the  best  development  of  this  work. 
The  problems  involve  psychology,  economics  and  ethics;  and  since  the 
great  end  is  to  develop  the  power  of  the  individual  pupil,  that  he  may 
come  into  his  own  and  find  that  joy  in  his  work  which,  after  all,  is  the 
foundation  of  efficiency,  the  teachers  must  have  teaching  ability,  right 
attitude  to  business  and  social  vision.  These  teachers  also,  whether 
working  in  stores  or  schools,  must  have  constructive  ability  to  adapt 
the  work  to  the  particular  problem  in  hand.  With  properly  trained 
teachers  great  difficulties  still  remain  in  the  educational  deficiencies  of 
these  young  people  and  the  complexity  of  the  problem  of  the  stores. 
Only  the  fact  that  the  seemingly  impossible  has  been  actually  accom- 
plished, and  a  subnormal  group  made  more  than  normally  efficient, 
makes  the  proposition  seem  practical  at  all. 

In  the  true  continuation  school  the  large  amount  of  training  that 
is  necessary  for  instruction  in  elementary  school  subjects  would  not 
be  required,  but  if  the  work  be  given  to  them  in  the  continuation 
school  in  the  bare  and  abstract  form  in  which  it  is  presented  in  ele- 
mentary schools,  the  pupils  will  fail  here  also  from  lack  of  co-ordina- 
tion. Every  item  of  knowledge  should  be  shown  to  them  in  a  form 
related  to  their  work;  they  should  be  made  to  see  and  understand  their 
need  for  just  such  and  such  knowledge  in  the  store  before  it  is  given 
to  them  at  all.  They  should,  and  they  do,  develop  a  real  appetite  for 
this  definite,  practical  knowledge;  and  there  naturally  results  a  much 
swifter  mental  growth  than  that  which  follows  on  the  forced  feeding 
process  of  unrelated  schooling.  It  further  has  the  advantage  of  mak- 
ing the  work  appear  as  one  whole,  instead  of  dividing  life  into  the 
academic  and  the  practical,  —  the  fallacious  and  immeasurably  harmful 
division  of  common  tradition.  The  training  should  be  just  as  broad 
as  it  can  be  made  and  keep  the  interest  of  the  pupils,  touching  not 
only  all  departments  of  the  store,  but  all  departments  of  knowledge 
which  arouse  the  interest  of  the  pupils.  The  primary  object  of  all 
education  is  not  merely  to  increase  the  value  of  our  children  for  their 
future  employer,  but  to  make  them,  each  one,  happy,  resourceful 
and  mentally  free  and  responsible.  Viewed  from  this  point  it  is  for- 
tunate that  business  efficiency  involves  to  so  great  an  extent  a  union 


158 

of  just  such  qualities.  Training  for  salesmanship  means  training  for 
a  very  high  type  of  manhood  and  womanhood,  not  incidentally,  but 
first,  last  and  always. 

The  working  program  of  the  Union  School  of  Salesmanship  keeps 
this  aim  in  view  throughout  its  practical  program.  In  particular  it 
strives  to  develop  those  qualities  which  would  enable  the  pupils  to 
succeed  as  saleswomen.  What  these  qualities  are  was  determined 
partly  by  a  personal  investigation  of  the  needs  of  the  average  un- 
trained salesgirl  and  a  long  acquaintance  with  her  problems  and  dis- 
couragements, and  partly  through  conferences  with  superintendents. 
The  resulting  needs  were  found  to  be:  the  development  of  a  profes- 
sional, responsible  attitude  towards  the  work;  the  development  of  a 
pleasing  personality;  the  inculcation  of  habits  of  order  and  systematic 
attention  to  detail;  instruction  in  the  qualities  of  merchandise;  and, 
finally,  knowledge  of  the  science  of  selling.  The  subjects  taught  have 
been  directly  chosen  for  these  needs.  For  the  development  of  a  pro- 
fessional attitude  toward  the  work  alone  there  has  been  no  specific 
course,  because  that  is  the  keynote  of  all  the  instruction.  Under  the 
other  heads,  the  following  program  has  grown  up :  (1)  To  develop 
a  pleasing  personality:  hygiene,  especially  personal  hygiene,  includ- 
ing a  study  of  daily"  menus  on  the  limited  means  of  the  saleswomen, 
ventilation,  bathing,  sleeping,  exercise,  recreation  and  proper  clothing 
for  comfort  and  health,  as  a  part  of  business  honesty;  neatness  in 
dress,  and  good  manners  toward  the  customer.  (2)  To  develop  habits 
of  system  and  attention  to  detail:  saleslip  practice,  a  study  of  store 
directories,  business  arithmetic,  business  forms  and  cash  accounts;  it 
is  here,  of  course,  that  the  training  in  arithmetic  comes.  (3)  Instruc- 
tion in  the  qualities  of  merchandise:  a  study  of  color  and  line  design, 
and  of  textiles.  (4)  The  science  of  salesmanship:  discussion  of  store 
experience,  demonstration  sales,  the  development  in  class  of  the  prin- 
cipal divisions  of  the  sale  and  the  method  of  handling  each,  the  devel- 
opment in  class  of  a  classification  of  customers  and  the  proper  method 
•of  selling  for  each,  and,  finally,  lectures  from  buyers  and  other  people 
of  a  wide  store  experience  for  general  points.  It  has  been  the  pur- 
pose, also,  to  arouse  interest  in  the  problems  and  opportunities  of  the 
wage-earning  class,  —  the  meaning  of  capital  and  wages,  the  just  rela- 
tion of  income  to  expenditure,  the  use  of  leisure  time,  commerce  and 
industry,  the  consumers'  league,  trade  unions  and  civic  responsibilities. 

This  program  gives  only  a  faint  notion  of  the  rich  possibilities  of 
the  training.  In  the  study  of  color  and  design  in  costumes  these  young 
people  acquire  a  knowledge  of  the  elementary  principles  which  under- 
lie all  art,  and  which,  therefore,  furnish  them  with  a  key  to  the  appre- 
ciation of  pictures  and  sculpture,  —  an  opportunity  entirely  closed  to 
most  people  of  such  slight  education  and  such  uninspired  surround- 
ings; the  study  of  textiles,  means  for  the  simpler  understanding  of  the 


159 

highly  complex  modern  processes,  —  a  study  of  the  simple  processes 
from  which  they  evolved.  That,  in  turn,  leads  to  the  study  of  the 
people  and  the  times  in  which  the  spinning  wheel  and  the  hand  loom 
flourished.  The  pupils  are  delighted  with  this  part  of  the  work;  it 
casts  the  glamour  of  romantic  old  times  over  the  things  which  they 
handle  daily.  They  come  to  this  study  of  a  history  of  that  in  which 
they  are  deeply  concerned  with  an  interest  as  vivid  as  it  was  dull  for 
the  dates  of  battles  and  the  political  intrigues  of  school  history.  Every 
lecture  and  every  visit  to  factory  or  workshop,  every  store  experience 
is  an  opportunity  for  them  to  write,  and  they  seize  it  eagerly.  They 
want  to  tell  of  the  things  they  have  learned  and  are  anxious  to  learn 
to  express  clearly  and  accurately  that  which  comes  tumbling  from  their 
lips.  It  often  happens  that  these  girls  are  really  dumb  before  pencil 
and  paper;  they  cannot  write  a  sentence.  They  struggle  hard  to  over- 
come this  obstacle  to  their  free  expression. 

Wherever  a  natural  interest  has  been  aroused  the  school  responds 
to  it  naturally.  That  is  the  value  of  a  flexible  curriculum  and  of  a 
teacher  who  will  take  advantage  of  its  flexibility,  —  a  teacher  with  a 
wide  general  knowledge  and  a  talent  for  adaptability  as  well  as  ac- 
curate knowledge  of  the  subject  of  salesmanship. 

Of  course,  the  program  of  the  Union  Salesmanship  School  cannot, 
and  should  not,  be  reproduced  exactly  for  a  continuation  school  which 
will  deal  with  children  between  fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age, 
since  whatever  knowledge  they  may  have  acquired  in  their  elementary 
schooling  will  not  have  been  dulled  by  disuse.  That  is,  it  is  not  prob- 
able that  so  large  an  amount  of  time  will  have  to  be  spent  in  the 
review  of  elementary  school  subjects.  On  the  other  hand,  such  a 
young  group  will  have  had  very  little  chance  at  selling.  They  will 
not  have  so  wide  a  basis  of  experience  for  training.  They  will,  how- 
ever, have  enough  "store"  experience  to  appreciate  the  relation 
between  the  school  and  the  store,  no  matter  in  what  department  they 
are  working.  It  will  also  be  possible  to  follow  farther  than  the  Union 
Salesmanship  School  can  the  lines  of  interest  of  the  pupils  into  the 
wide  fields  of  commercial  and  civic  affairs.  It  will  be  possible  in  such  a 
school  to  do  even  more  for  the  young  people  than  the  Union  School 
has  ever  hoped  to  do. 

Surely,  then,  there  is  no  question  about  a  part-time  school  for  the 
children  between  fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  the  department 
stores.  The  stores  and  the  public  need  efficient  salesmen  and  sales- 
women, and  the  department-store  employees  need  to  be  efficient  to  be 
happy  and  to  hope  for  prosperity.  There  are  none  of  the  usual  diffi- 
culties in  the  way  of  establishing  the  school;  the  way  has  been  paved 
by  a  successful  experiment;  no  expensive  equipment  to  be  acquired, 
no  opposition  of  the  industrial  leaders  to  overcome.  Here,  if  any- 
where, the  path  is  smooth  for  a  part-time  school. 


INDEX. 


ADULT  WORKERS:  included  in  study, 
30,  62;  groups  selected  from  the 
different  industries  and  number  in 
each,  45;  number  interviewed,  45. 
In  Machine  Shops,  63;  reasons  for 
leaving  mill  (table),  64;  average 
wage  of  those  who  began  in  ma- 
chine shops  (table),  64;  previous 
record  of  men  (table),  65. 

AGE  AND  SCHOOLING  CERTIFICATES,  30, 
35,  44,  103. 

APPRENTICESHIP  SYSTEM:  former  sys- 
tems, 8,  84 ;  effect  of  recent  changes 
of  methods  of  manufacturing,  14, 
85;  need  of  replacing,  86;  im- 
practicability, 86;  in  boot  and  shoe 
industry,  87;  form  used  in  connec- 
tion with  unions  to  find  out  num- 
ber of  apprentices  in  boot  and  shoe 
industry,  93;  study  of  large  shoe 
factory  which  trains  young  work- 
ers, 94-98. 

BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY:  number  of 
children  employed,  9;  per  cent,  of 
workers  beginning  work  at  fourteen 
years  of  age,  10;  reason  for  study- 
ing, 29;  large  wage  received  by 
young  workers  not  without  dis- 
advantages, 53;  nativity  and  par- 
entage of  workers  (table),  74,  75; 
grade  reached  in  school  (table),  76; 
age  leaving  school  (table),  76;  re- 
tardation in  school  (table),  77;  kind 
of  training  needed,  77;  method  of 
learning,  78;  number  of  changes 
of  occupation  made  in  six  years 
(table),  78;  per  cent,  on  skilled 
and  unskilled  work,  78,  79;  shift- 
ing of  workers,  79;  advantage  of 
foreign  born  over  native  born  in 
learning  trade,  79;  wages  received 
after  six  years  in  industry  (table), 
80;  increases  in  wage  over  initial 
wage  for  groups  one  and  six  years 
at  work  in  industry  (table),  81; 
wages  received  after  one  year  in 
industry  (table),  82;  kind  of  work 
desired  by  children  employed,  83; 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY — -Con. 

methods  of  learning  trade,  91,  92, 
109,  110;  practicability  of  part- 
time  schooling,  107-112;  form  used 
in  collecting  information,  108,  109; 
suggested  programs  for  schools, 
organization,  and  amount  of  time, 
137;  programs  of  training,  138, 139. 

BOSTON.     See  Boot  and  Shoe  Industry. 

BROCKTON.  See  Boot  and  Shoe  Indus- 
try. 

CHILDREN:  number  between  the  ages 
of  fourteen  and  seventeen  not  in 
school,  9;  number  between  four- 
teen and  seventeen  years  of  age 
neither  in  school  nor  regularly  at 
work,  27;  method  used  in  esti- 
mating number  neither  in  school 
nor  at  work,  31,  32. 

CHILDREN  AT  WORK:  number,  9;  per 
cent,  beginning  work  at  or  about 
fourteen  years  of  age,  9;  previous 
schooling,  10;  method  of  inter- 
viewing, 30;  chief  industries  em- 
ploying with  comparison  of  years 
1904  and  1909  (table),  33, 34;  num- 
ber of  children  at  work  as  found  in 
truant  officers'  reports,  as  com- 
pared with  the  number  of  age  and 
schooling  certificates  issued  in 
1912  (table),  35;  number  inter- 
viewed for  this  study,  44;  groups 
selected  and  number  in  each,  44; 
amount  of  schooling  received,  45; 
age  on  leaving  school  for  those 
entering  various  industries  (table), 
46;  percentage  leaving  each  grade 
to  enter  various  industries  (table), 
47;  length  of  period  of  retardation 
and  percentage  of  those  so  retarded 
entering  different  industries  (table), 
48;  percentage  of  those  out  of 
school  one  year  employed  in  differ- 
ent industries  earning  a  given 
wage  (table),  49;  percentage  of 
those  out  of  school  six  years  em- 
ployed in  different  industries  earn- 
ing a  given  wage  (table),  50;  per- 


162 


CHILDREN  AT  WORK  —  Con. 

centage  in  skilled  and  unskilled 
work  in  different  industries  after 
one  year  and  six  years  of  employ- 
ment (table),  51;  time  required  to 
advance  to  skilled  work  in  different 
industries  and  percentage  so  ad- 
vancing for  groups  out  of  school 
six  years  (table),  52;  percentage 
receiving  specified  increases  in 
different  industries  (table),  52; 
effect  of  monotonous  work,  54. 
See  also  Unemployed  Boys. 

CINCINNATI.  See  Printing  and  Pub- 
lishing Industry  and  Machine  In- 
dustry. 

COMMERCIAL  ESTABLISHMENTS.  See 
Department  Stores. 

CONFECTIONERY  INDUSTRY:  number  of 
children  employed,  9;  per  cent,  of 
workers  beginning  work  at  four- 
teen years  of  age,  10;  reason  for 
studying,  30;  number  interviewed, 
67;  per  cent,  of  workers  seventeen 
years  of  age  or  under,  67;  na- 
tionality of  workers,  67;  age  at 
leaving  school  (table),  68;  grade 
left  (table),  68;  length  of  period  of 
retardation  and  percentage  re- 
tarded (table),  69;  methods  of 
learning  trade  (table),  69;  per- 
centage on  skilled  and  unskilled 
work  (table),  70;  practicability  of 
part-time  schooling,  116,  117; 
cumulative  number  and  percent- 
age of  women  under  eighteen  years 
of  age  classified  by  earnings  (table) , 
116;  attitude  of  workers  toward 
wage  reduction  to  allow  for  part- 
time  schooling  (table),  117;  atti- 
tude of  workers  toward  Saturday 
afternoon  classes  (table),  117;  sug- 
gested programs  for  schools,  140. 

CONTINUATION  SCHOOLS:  in  Germany, 
9,  14,  29,  115;  in  Erfurt,  111;  in 
Breslau,  111;  in  Vermelskirchen, 
111,  112;  in  Great  Britain,  112;  in 
Munich,  155;  proposed  legislation 
regarding,  22. 

COTTON  INDUSTRY.  See  Textile  Indus- 
try. 

DEPARTMENT  STORES:  reason  for  study- 
ing, 29;  young  workers  in  need  of 
part-time  schooling,  54;  practica- 
bility of  part-time  schooling,  115, 
116;  suggested  programs  for 


DEPARTMENT  STORES  —  Con. 

schools,  140,  141;  number  of 
children  between  fourteen  and 
seventeen  years  of  age  at  work 
in  Massachusetts,  147;  sources  of 
material  for  study,  147;  nativity 
of  workers  (table),  148;  ages  of 
women  (table),  148;  age  at  leav- 
ing school  (table),  150;  reason  for 
leaving  school,  150;  comparison  of 
earnings  of  groups  investigated  by 
Minimum  Wage  Commission  and 
group  attending  salesmanship 
classes  before  and  after  training 
(table),  152;  existing  means  for 
training  workers,  153,  154;  ap- 
prenticeship system,  154;  possible 
means  of  education,  155—159; 
equipment  necessary  for  salesman- 
ship school,  156;  needs  of  an  un- 
trained salesgirl,  158.  See  also 
Union  School  of  Salesmanship. 

DOUGLAS  REPORT  ON  INDUSTRIAL  EDU- 
CATION, 38,  40,  42,  92  (foot-note). 

EMPLOYERS:  opinions  on  practicability 
of  part-time  schooling,  119-123. 

ENGLAND:   half-time  schools,  115. 

EVENING  SCHOOLS:  do  not  solve  prob- 
lem of  educating  young  workers, 
13. 

FALL  RIVER:  comparison  of  number  of 
children  granted  work  certificates 
for  mills  with  truant  officers'  re- 
ports of  same  children,  32;  per 
cent,  of  young  people  who  work  in 
cotton  mills,  32;  amount  of  sum- 
mer employment  in  cotton  mills, 
32;  age  at  which  153  unemployed 
boys  left  school  (table,)  45;  grade 
last  attended  by  153  unemployed 
boys  (table),  47;  number  of  chil- 
dren fourteen  years  of  age  at  work 
in  cotton  mills  from  truant  offi- 
cers' report,  and  number  of  children 
granted  certificates  to  work  in 
same  mills  for  same  year  (table), 
103,  104. 

FITCHBURG.     See  Textile  Industry. 

HOLYOKE:  half  as  many  children  four- 
teen years  of  age  are  found  at 
work  as  there  are  holding  age  and 
schooling  certificates,  36;  accu- 
rateness  of  truant  officer's  report,. 
36. 

INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION.  See  Voca- 
tional Schools. 


163 


LAKESIDE  PKESS:  statement  as  to  best 
arrangement  of  time  to  be  spent 
at  school  and  at  work,  141,  142; 
statement  as  to  reason  for  estab- 
lishing a  part-time  school,  143. 

LEGISLATION  PROPOSED  :  an  act  to  pro- 
vide for  the  establishment  and 
maintenance  of  continuation 
schools  for  young  workers,  22,  23. 

LYNN.     See  Boot  and  Shoe  Industry. 

MACHINE  INDUSTRY:  only  industry 
studied  maintaining  a  system  of 
training  in  the  shop,  53;  condi- 
tions in  machine  shops,  65;  typi- 
cal expressions  of  opinion  of 
apprentices,  66;  practicability  of 
part-time  schooling,  117,  118;  sug- 
gested programs  for  schools,  amount 
of  time,  139;  program  of  work,  139, 
140. 

METAL  TRADES:  reason  for  studying, 
29. 

MINIMUM  WAGE  COMMISSION,  67,  69, 
147-152. 

MONOTONY  OF  WORK:  effect  on  shift- 
ing of  Lowell  workers,  10,  54. 

NEWTON.  See  .Printing  and  Publishing 
Industry. 

OPPORTUNITY  TO  ADVANCE  IN  INDUS- 
TRY, lack  of,  11. 

PART-TIME  SCHOOLING:  definition,  8; 
problem,  8;  forms,  9;  in  England, 
9,  17;  need,  12;  as  it  exists  in 
America,  17;  attitude  of  employers, 
18;  suggested  programs,  19 ;  should 
be  made  compulsory,  20;  proposed 
legislation  requiring  attendance,  22 ; 
information  necessary  to  make 
schools  successful,  28. 

PRACTICABILITY  or  PART-TIME  SCHOOL- 
ING: from  the  standpoint  of  the 
worker,  14;  from  the  standpoint  of 
school  organization,  15;  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  organization  of 
industry,  16;  standpoints  from 
which  it  is  considered,  99;  atti- 
tude of  employers,  99-101. 
Effect  on  the  Industry:  department 
stores,  101;  machine  industry,  102; 
printing  and  publishing,  102;  shoe 
manufacturing,  102;  bookbinding, 
103 ;  textile  industry,  103 ;  previous 
experiments,  104-106;  attitude  of 
the  workers,  106,  107;  detailed 
consideration  of  industries,  107- 
118;  replacing  pupils,  boot  and 


PRACTICABILITY  OF  PART-TIME  SCHOOL- 
ING—  Con. 

shoe  industry,  110;  reasons  why 
unions  should  not  object,  110,  111. 
See  also  Employers. 
PRINTING  AND  PUBLISHING:  number  of 
children  employed,  9;  reason  for 
studying,  29;  suggested  programs 
for  schools,  amount  and  arrange- 
ment of  time,  141,  142;  suggested 
programs  for  school  courses  of 
training,  142,  143. 
PUBLIC  SCHOOL:  agency  for  furnishing 

general  training,  37,  38. 
QUINCY:    study  made  of  needs  of  com- 
munity, 146. 

SCHOOL  ATTENDANCE:  proposed  legis- 
lation, 21;  in  Germany,  27. 
SCHOOL  PROGRAMS:  kind  of  training 
which  should  be  provided,  124; 
types  of  training  which  should  be 
provided  for,  125;  type  of  institu- 
tion needed,  126;  efficiency  of  in- 
struction, 126,  127;  co-operation 
of  employers,  127;  amount  of  time 
which  should  be  given  to  school 
attendance,  127;  flexible  programs 
to  meet  individual  needs,  127; 
classes  of  those  with  similar  needs 
and  experience,  128;  equipment 
necessary,  128;  probable  cost,  128, 
129;  qualifications  of  teachers,  129; 
method  of  training,  130-132; 
training  away  from  one  occupation 
into  another,  132,  133;  for  a  city 
of  only  one  industry,  133-136. 
SHOE  INDUSTRY.  See  Boot  and  Shoe 

Industry. 

SHOE  SCHOOLS:  number  visited,  87; 
processes  taught  and  number  of 
students  learning  each  (table),  88; 
processes  taught  and  tuition  for 
each  (table),  89;  processes  taught 
men  and  women  (table),  90;  value 
of  instruction,  91. 

SKILLED  PROCESS:  difficulty  in  learn- 
ing, 11. 

TEXTILE  INDUSTRY:  number  of  chil- 
dren employed,  9;  per  cent,  of 
workers  beginning  work  at  four- 
teen years  of  age,  10;  amount  of 
time  lost  by  young  workers  in  Fall 
River  and  New  Bedford,  10;  ad- 
vance in  wages  of  those  one  and 
six  years  at  work,  12;  reason  for 
studying,  29;  decrease  in  wages 


164 


TEXTILE  INDUSTRY  —  Con. 

after  working  a  few  years,  53; 
nationality  of  workers,  71;  grade 
in  school  reached  (table),  71; 
years  regarded  in  school  (table) ,  72 ; 
amount  of  time  spent  at  home  by 
boys  and  girls  who  left  school  six 
years  ago  (table),  72;  per  cent,  on 
skilled  and  unskilled  work,  73; 
wages,  73;  table  showing  number 
of  children  fourteen  years  of  age 
at  work  in  cotton  mills  from  truant 
officer's  report,  and  number  of 
children  granted  certificates  to 
work  in  same  mills  for  same  year, 
103,  104;  practicability  of  part- 
time  schooling,  112-115;  suggested 
program  for  schools,  organization 
and  amount  of  time,  133;  subject- 
matter,  134-136;  equipment,  136. 

TRAINING  IN  SHOP:  no  system,  53; 
study  of  large  shoe  factory  which 
trains  young  workers,  94-98. 

UNEMPLOYED  BOYS:  reason  for  study- 
ing, 55;  nationality,  55;  age  at 
leaving  school,  55;  grade  reached 
in  school,  55;  reason  for  idleness, 
55. 

In  Lowell:  birthplaces  (table),  57; 
parentage  (table),  57;  age  on  leav- 
ing school  (table),  57;  grade  at- 
tained in  school  (table),  58;  ages  at 


UNEMPLOYED  BOYS  —  Con. 

the  time  of  the  investigation  (table) ,. 
58;  number  of  years  since  begin- 
ning work  (table),  59;  initial  and 
last  salary  received,  amount  of 
increase  according  to  length  of 
service  (table),  59;  typical  cases, 
60,  61;  evening  school  attendance 
(table),  62. 

VOCATIONAL  SCHOOLS:  development 
and  place,  38-40;  largest  contri- 
bution, 39;  type  of  teacher  needed, 
40;  other  existing  agencies  for  fur- 
nishing, 41;  corporation  schools, 
41;  philanthropic  schools,  41;  tex- 
tile schools,  41,  42;  all-day  school, 
12,  19,  42,  43;  reasons  for  failure 
to  establish,  43;  means  necessary 
to  establish,  43;  future  lines  of 
development,  144-146.  See  also 
Douglas  Report;  Shoe  Schools. 

WOMEN'S  EDUCATIONAL  AND  INDUS- 
TRIAL UNION' 

Union  School  of  Salesmanship,  41, 
101,  104;  history  of  development, 
149;  value  of  training  received 
there  as  measured  by  the  selling 
power  of  pupils,  156;  normal 
course  for  training  of  teachers,  156, 
157;  program  of  study  used,  158, 
159.  See  also  Department  Stores. 


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